Born today in 1900 was a German man set to become a multi-record breaker in his field of middle distance running. Otto Peltzer set three world records, in three separate locations and at three separate distances between 1926 and 1927. His first record was in the 800m in London in July of 1926, he broke the record by 0.3 seconds, a record he held for just over 2 years. The second was in the 1500m in Berlin in September of the same year, beating the previous time by 1.6 seconds. The third and final record he set was in the 1000m in Paris in 1927.
Otto was persecuted for being gay and imprisoned in a Nazi concentration camp for four years, after which he went on to coach athletics in India. It is also reported that he was imprisoned, at some point, for 18 months for “homosexual offences with youths,” though the details of this I do not have.
Formerly studying at University of California, Berkeley, Peltzer achieved his B.S. and Ph.D. degrees there to become Dr Otto Peltzer. He died on 11th August 1970.
His achievements in running and coaching have been rewarded in a series of weekly 10km races named after him, the Reebok Otto Peltzer road races, held every Sunday in (New) Delhi.
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2 comments:
wonder if thatis were the got the name Reebok as the shoe. I remember the story of Nicki shoes. but not this one. Thank you for the interesting story.
Hugs
Ray.
PS Good Luck to with your soccer Man.
The Reebok races are a relatively recent thing, and sponsored by Reebok (I believe). I hope to make a series of these famous gay people, so if you know anyone with a birthday coming up let me know so I can do some research and I will feature them.
The guy who I hope will be in the pub today to watch the rugby is probably straight, but he is gorgeous and very friendly so we will see!
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