Otto Herschmann

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Olympic medal record
Competitor for  Austria
Men's Swimming
Silver	1896 Athens	100m freestyle
Men's Fencing
Silver	1912 Stockholm	Team sabre

Dr. Otto Herschmann (born January 4, 1877 – died June 14, 1942) was a Jewish Austrian swimmer, fencer, lawyer, and sport official. He is one of only three athletes to have won Olympic medals in different sports.[1]

Contents 1 Olympic swimming career 2 Olympic fencing career 3 Concentration camp and death 4 Hall of Fame 5 References

[edit] Olympic swimming career

Born in Vienna, Herschmann first competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, in the 100 metres freestyle event. He placed 2nd with a time of 1:22.8, barely .6 seconds behind the winner Alfréd Hajós.

[edit] Olympic fencing career

Herschmann returned to Olympic competition at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden competing as a member of Austria's fencing team. A sabre fencer, he won a silver medal in the team competition, and was eliminated in the first round of the individual event.

At that time he was serving as president of the Austrian Olympic Committee. He is the only president of a National Olympic Committee to win a medal while holding office.[2]

[edit] Concentration camp and death

Herschmann was arrested in Vienna by the Nazis, and deported on January 14, 1942, to the Sobibor concentration camp. He died in the Izbica transit camp in German-occupied Poland later that year.

[edit] Hall of Fame

Herschmann, who is Jewish, was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.

On November 7, 2001 his hometown Vienna named a lane Otto-Herschmann-Gasse in Simmering.

[edit] References

• Olympic results
• Jews in Sports
• Jewish Sports bio
• Holocaust Museum bio
• "The Olympics and the Holocaust"