Helmut Bantz

Helmut Bantz (14 September 1921 to 3 October 2004) was a German gymnast and Olympic champion who won the gold medal in the vault at the 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne, competing for the United Team of Germany. He fought for Germany in the Second World War, was captured by British forces in 1944 and taken to England, and after his release from prisoner-of-war status in 1948 he stayed on to find work in agriculture. Within months he acted as the unofficial coach of the British men's gymnastics team at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, working with Frank Turner and George Weedon. Back in Germany he competed in all the artistic gymnastics events at the 1952 and 1956 Olympics, won two silver medals and a bronze at the 1954 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships and four medals at the 1955 European Men's Artistic Gymnastics Championships, and later worked as a gymnastics coach in Cologne.