1959–60 Four Hills Tournament

The eighth annual Four Hills Tournament in Germany and Austria was influenced by the German flag controversy, which led to the teams of the Warsaw pact zone withdrawing from the tournament. In addition, Finland and Norway decided not to compete due to preparations for the upcoming 1960 Winter Olympics. Finland ultimately sent prospective athletes.

Four Hills Tournament
VenuesSchattenbergschanze, Große Olympiaschanze, Bergiselschanze, Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze
LocationGermany, Austria
Dates30 December 1959 (1959-12-30) – 6 January 1960 (1960-01-06)
Competitors46 from 8 nations
Medalists
gold medal 
silver medal 
bronze medal 
← 1958-59
1960-61 →

The tournament was instead dominated by the host country and for the first time, the Four Hills were won by a West German ski jumper, Max Bolkart.

German Flag Controversy

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For ten years after its declared independence, the German Democratic Republic continued to use the German tricolour for official use. In October 1959, they finally adapted a distinctive flag, the East German coat of arms in front of the tricolour. The Four Hills tournament starting in December 1959 was one of the first sporting events on West German ground where East German athletes were supposed to compete under the new flag.

However, it was prohibited to display the new East German flag under West German law and the hosts refused to do so in Oberstdorf. The strong East German delegation including defending champion Helmut Recknagel refused to compete under the circumstances and withdrew. Teams of countries that accepted East Germany as a sovereign nation and thus their flag, withdrew in solidarity (Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Soviet Union). Originally, it was announced that they would compete at the two events in Austria.

Austria, however, did not yet have diplomatic relations with the GDR and it was left to the local government to deal with the situation. Innsbruck mayor Alois Lugger decided not to display the East German flag either. Although he offered compromises, such as the use of the Olympic German flag or using no flags at all, the Warsaw pact teams declared their withdrawal on the day of the Innsbruck event and left the day after. [1]

Participating nations and athletes

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Many notable absences include the teams from East Germany, the Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Norway and the top athletes from Finland.

A French team, however, competed at the Four Hills for the first time.

Nation Number of Athletes Athletes
  Germany 13 Hermann Anwander, Helmut Böck, Max Bolkart, Rudi Duffke, Alois Haberstock, Wolfgang Happle, Heini Ihle, Helmut Kurz, Georg Thoma, Helmut Wegscheider, Hubert Witting, Heinrich Zapf, Axel Zerlaut
  Austria 14 Willi Egger, Klaus Fichtner, Walter Habersatter, Waldemar Heigenhauser, Willi Köstinger, Ernst Kröll, Lois Leodolter, Otto Leodolter, Peter Müller, Alwin Plank, Baldur Preiml, Rudi Schweinberger, Walter Steinegger, Ferdl Wallner
  Canada 3 Jacques Charland, Gerry Gravelle, Luis Moser
  Finland 2 Timo Kavelä, Markku Maatela
  France 2 Claude Jean-Prost, Robert Rey
  Sweden 4 Lars-Åke Bergseije, Holger Karlsson, Inger Lindquist, Folke Mikaelsson
  Switzerland 3 Andreas Däscher, Ueli Scheidegger, Peter Wenger
  Yugoslavia 5 Božo Jemc, Jože Langus, Miro Oman, Marjan Pečar, Jože Šlibar

Results

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Oberstdorf

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  Schattenbergschanze, Oberstdorf
30 December 1959[2]

Rank Name Points
1   Max Bolkart 220.5
2   Alwin Plank 219.5
3   Helmut Kurz 219.0
4   Willi Egger 217.0
  Holger Karlsson 217.0
6   Hermann Anwander 215.5
7   Walter Habersatter 214.5
8   Otto Leodolter 212.5
9   Folke Mikaelsson 212.0
  Georg Thoma 212.0

Garmisch-Partenkirchen

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  Große Olympiaschanze, Garmisch-Partenkirchen
1 January 1960[3]

With his ninth place in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Jacques Charland became the first non-European with a Top-Ten-finish at a Four Hills event.

Rank Name Points
1   Max Bolkart 216.9
2   Timo Kivelä 216.5
3   Jože Šlibar 212.7
4   Inger Lindquist 212.6
5   Georg Thoma 212.5
6   Božo Jemc 212.1
7   Alwin Plank 211.2
8   Markku Maatela 210.8
9   Jacques Charland 210.4
10   Willi Egger 209.8

Innsbruck

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  Bergiselschanze, Innsbruck
3 January 1960[4]

Thanks to close results so far, the overall ranking was still closely contested after the first two events. In Innsbruck however, Max Bolkart increased his lead to almost twenty points after a third, clearer victory.

Curiously, three out of four Swedish competitors shared 21st place, equal in points (198.5).

Rank Name Points
1   Max Bolkart 229.5
2   Otto Leodolter 225.5
3   Alwin Plank 216.5
4   Folke Mikaelsson 215.5
5   Georg Thoma 214.5
6   Timo Kivelä 213.0
7   Willi Egger 212.0
8   Božo Jemc 211.5
  Walter Steinegger 211.5
10   Markku Maatela 211.0

Bischofshofen

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  Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze, Bischofshofen
6 January 1959[5]

Max Bolkart was the third athlete within seven years to win the first three events but fail to achieve the 'Grand Slam' in Bischofshofen. He still became the first West German to win the tournament however, as Alwin Plank almost, but not quite closed the gap in the overall ranking.

The Austrians achieved their first triple victory, a feat that only the Finnish had produced so far (twice in 1954–55).

Rank Name Points
1   Alwin Plank 227.5
2   Otto Leodolter 224.7
3   Willi Egger 221.7
4   Helmut Kurz 216.0
5   Max Bolkart 211.1
  Jacques Charland 211.1
7   Walter Steinegger 210.8
8   Wolfgang Happle 209.8
9   Jože Šlibar 208.9
10   Timo Kivelä 204.3

Final ranking

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Rank Name Oberstdorf Garmisch-Partenkirchen Innsbruck Bischofshofen Points
1   Max Bolkart 1st 1st 1st 5th 878.0
2   Alwin Plank 2nd 7th 3rd 1st 874.7
3   Otto Leodolter 8th 11th 2nd 2nd 870.6
4   Willi Egger 4th 10th 7th 3rd 860.5
5   Helmut Kurz 3rd 12th 14th 4th 849.0
6   Timo Kivelä 11th 2nd 6th 10th 845.3
7   Georg Thoma 9th 5th 5th 14th 839.2
8   Walter Steinegger 23rd 14th 8th 7th 826.8
9   Hermann Anwander 6th 20th 15th 11th 825.7
10   Wolfgang Happle 19th 27th 17th 8th 808.7

References

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  1. ^ "Flaggenstreit beim Innsbrucker Skispringen" (in German). Arbeiter-Zeitung. 1960.
  2. ^ "Oberstdorf (GER)". FIS.
  3. ^ "Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER)". FIS.
  4. ^ "Innsbruck (AUT)". FIS.
  5. ^ "Bischofshofen (AUT)". FIS.
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