Jürgen Hingsen


Jürgen Hingsen is a former West German decathlete who won several medals at international championships and Olympic Games in the 1980s, and held the decathlon world record in 1982 and again from 1983 to 1984. His rivalry with British decathlete Daley Thompson proved one of the most exciting in athletics during the 1980s.

Biography

The tall athlete came second in the Olympic decathlon at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles just behind Daley Thompson. Also in 1984, Hingsen set his personal best in the decathlon at 8832 points – then a world record, and still the German record.
During the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Hingsen made three false starts in the 100 metre sprint, and he was disqualified from that event – and effectively eliminated from that decathlon competition.