The most popular sportsman of all time - in the DDR
Gustav-Adolf Schur, or simply 'Täve' to people of the DDR, helped to design the bike pictured below. Did he ride this bike to victory in the 1958 and 1959 Amateur World Road Race? Was it used in the 1959 International Peace Race, a race he also won in 1955? He was the first German to win both!
Probably not, but who cares... just take a look:
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| Photograph ©NichilessDey VEB Elite-Diamant 1959/60.Model: Peace Race (I think?) |
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| Photograph ©NichilessDey Täve pictured above the Diamant, probably photographed at the finish of the 1959 'World Amateur Road Race'. He was the first amateur to successfully defend a road race title. Is this the bike he rode or was it produced for the adoring people of the DDR? |
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| Photograph ©NichilessDey An East German legend - both rider and bike. One of the great head tube badges too - the cherub! |
Information on the bike provided at the Haus der Geschichte, Bonn (translated by me!)
In 1959 Gustav-Adolf Schur sensationally defended his title as amateur world road champion.
As world champion he donated a prize for a race organized by the "German Sports Echo" for young talent in September 1959 at the Sachsenring. Peter Zimmermann was of the lucky winner.
Schur participated personally in the development of this road bike through the VEB elite Diamond, Karl-Marx-Stadt.
the VEB Elite-Diamant is on loan from the private Museum of Saxon vehicles e.V. Chemintz
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http://www.n-tv.de/leute/buecher/Ein-Wessi-auf-Friedensfahrt-article6104311.htmlTäve with this beautiful bike. |
"Schur reached the summit of his popularity by not winning, however: At the 1960 UCI Road World Championships that took place at the Sachsenring, Schur was favorite to defend his title again, but instead he let his teammate Bernhard Eckstein pass who eventually won the race. This selfless gesture capped Schur's myth, the dimensions of which can be sensed if one considers the results of a survey conducted after the end of East Germany: here Schur was voted greatest East German sports personality of all time, 25 years after he had ended his career.[3] Schur was selected as East-German Sportspersonality of the Year nine times in a row from 1953 to 1961."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav-Adolf_Schur
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| Schur on the GDR 20 Pfennig stamp - Road Cycling World Championships 1960 |
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| For even more information on cycling in Germany, especially the DDR, take a look at http://www.tindonkey.com/search?q=Schur |
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