Michael Wessing

{{Short description|German javelin thrower (1952–2019)}}

{{use dmy dates|date=June 2022}}

{{Infobox sportsperson

|name=Michael Wessing

|full_name=Michael Thomas Maria Wessing

|birth_date={{birth date|1952|8|29|df=y}}

|birth_place=Recklinghausen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany

|death_date= {{death date and age|2019|5|7|1952|8|29|df=y}}

|death_place=

|nationality={{GER}}

|height=1.82 m

|weight=88 kg

|country={{FRG}}

|club=TV Wattenscheid

|sport=Athletics

|event=Javelin throw

|headercolor=lightsteelblue

|pb=94.22 m (1978)

|show-medals=yes

|medaltemplates=

{{Medal|Sport | Men's athletics}}

{{Medal|Country | {{FRG}} }}

{{MedalCompetition|European Championships}}

{{Medal|Gold|1978 Prague|Javelin throw}}

}}

Michael Thomas Maria Wessing (29 August 1952 – 7 May 2019) was a German javelin thrower.

He finished fourteenth at the 1974 European Championships, won the gold medal at the 1978 European Championships and finished ninth at the 1976 Summer Olympics.{{cite Sports-Reference |title=Michael Wessing |quote=Full name: Michael Thomas Maria Wessing}} Representing the sports team TV Wattenscheid, he became West German champion six years in a row in the years 1975 to 1980.[http://www.sport-komplett.de/sport-komplett/sportarten/l/leichtathletik/hst/108.html German championships - men's javelin throw]

His personal best throw was 94.22 metres (with the old javelin type), achieved on 3 August 1978 in Oslo. It was the best throw in the world that year, and at the time second overall only to Miklós Németh's 1976 world record of 94.58. When new javelin design rules came into force in April 1986, Wessing still stood as the eighth-best performer worldwide; in Germany only Uwe Hohn and Detlef Michel, both from East Germany, had longer throws.{{cite web |url=http://www.leichtathletik.de/dokumente/ergebnisse/images/ewige_dlv_bestenliste.pdf |title="Ewige" Bestenliste der deutschen Leichtathletik |trans-title="Eternal" list of the best in German athletics |website=leichtathletik.de |language=de |publisher=Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070704081712/http://www.leichtathletik.de/dokumente/ergebnisse/images/ewige_dlv_bestenliste.pdf |archive-date=4 July 2007}}

He died on 7 May 2019, at the age of 66, due to complications from surgery.[https://www.sueddeutsche.de/sport/nachruf-trauer-um-speerwerfer-wessing-1.4440007 Trauer um Speerwerfer Wessing] {{in lang|de}}