Background
He was born and died in Frankfurt (Oder).
He was born and died in Frankfurt (Oder).
He started his career in his hometown at the local gymnastics club Frankfurter Turnverein 1860. Later on he moved to Berlin to compete for the Deutsche Turnerschaft. He competed at the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens.
His six medals made him one of the most successful competitors at the first modern Olympic Games.
After his return to Germany he and most of the other German gymnasts were suspended, because the Deutsche Turnerschaft (at this time the governing body of German gymnastics) boycotted the Olympic games with the reason that competing is "ungerman". So he moved back to Frankfurt (Oder) to manage the open-air swimming pool founded by his father on the Ziegenwerder island.
He drowned trying to rescue a person from drowning in the Oder. In 1996 the main footpath on the Ziegenwerder island was named Hermann-Weingärtner-Weg.