13. Januar 2008  
Berlin / Germany  
Artistic Gymnastics

Karl-Heinz ZSCHOCKE has passed away ...

Karl-Heinz ZSCHOCKE
* 25.05.1931 - + 12.01.2008

The international gymnastics community has lost one of its most respected members and an exceptional person.

Karl-Heinz ZSCHOCKE, the former head coach of the GDR artitic gymnastics men's team and long-standing president of the Technical Committee for Men's Gymnastics of the International Gymnastics Federation (F.I.G.), who in the last few years was its honorary vice president, died after a short, serious illness in a Berlin hospital on Saturday evening....

Karl-Heinz ZSCHOCKE (middle, left), as he is respectfully remembered,
pictured in full flow as chief international judge at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Zschocke as GDR head coach at the 1966 Worlds in Dortmund, assiting the German Gerhard Dietrich at high bar.

Karl-Heinz Zschocke was born in the Saxon town of Glauchau in 1931.
After his vocational training, he entered the sports university "Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur" (DHfK) in Leipzig in 1951, followed in 1955 by a specialised course in gymnastics at the Moscow "Institute of Physical Culture".
After graduation, he took the position of head coach at the “SC Stahl Riesa” club.

From 1958 – 1971 he was in charge of the GDR men’s team as head coach and laid the foundation for the development of artistic gymnastics in East Germany.
Their men’s team went on to a become an international powerhouse.
Zschocke lead the GDR team to a bronze medal behind Japan and the USSR at the 1966 World Championships, held in the Westfalenhalle in Dotrmund. Leipzig native Matthias Brehme became the first German since Helmut Bantz in 1954 to rank among the top ten gymnasts in the all-around.

German gymnastics apparatus producer Ullrich SPIETH (l.) and Karl-Heinz Zschocke, presenting the new vaulting table at a conference in Bratislava, 1998

1972 Olympic champion Klaus Köste (GER):
„To us, Karl-Heinz was a person first, rather than a judge or coach. This is why he was popular among the gymnasts and respected worldwide due to his excellent language skills and diplomatic cunning. Considering [his career spanned] politically troubled times during the Cold War, this is quite an achievement.”

Well respected internationally Karl-Heinz Zschocke was a member of the FIG men's Technical Committee from 1968-1996 and served as its president from 1984-1996.

1950 Swiss all-around world champion Walter Lehmann (l.) at a traditional meeting with Zschocke 2001 in Ingelheim (Germany)

Walter Freivogel (88), who judged four Olympic Games for West Germany, says about Zschocke:
“Even during the most difficult political times he would never accept any factual or human errors, which was almost a miracle considering the often tricky global situation.”

During the three decades of his international judging career, Zschocke influenced the progressive development of the Code of Points perhaps more than any other expert and was later in charge of its creation together with other experts!
In 1996 he was made honorary vice-president of the FIG and continued to closely follow the sport, acting as consultant for apparatus manufacturers.
His career spanned nine Olympics and 18 World Championships.


Zschocke's  principles, shared in an interview with the German gymnastics LEON* Magazine in 2005, are basically rules for modern gymnastics:

“ - There is an old saying: Execution beats difficulty!
In my opinion, this is the most important rule in gymnastics.

” - When speaking of honesty, I have to say that the federations are under an obligation to their judges.

” - A good judge is a person who applies the CoP as it is expected and who conscientiously and honestly judges the gymnasts, regardless of their nationality."
He is survived by his wife Christine, six children and eleven grandchildren. They mourn an exceptional human being, whose kindness and personality will be remembered.
"Kalle, we will miss you!"

* Eckhard Herholz, GYMmedia
- translated by Nora Schuler

*...read more at the German GYMmedia-Website on
>>  www.gymmedia.de


 The FUNERAL* CEREMONY
will held 2008, January 29 , at 2 p.m.  at the Berlin's Crematorium Baumschulenweg (Big Hall),
Kiefholz Street 221, 12 437 BERLIN.

*- The act of burial will held to a later present  time and in a limited manner of family, only!