Richard Rau
{{short description|German sprinter}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=November 2024}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name =
| image =1912 Athletics men's 4x100 metre final2.JPG
| caption =Richard Rau (right) in the 4×100 m final at the 1912 Olympics
| birth_name =
| fullname =
| nationality =
| residence =
|birth_date = 26 August 1889
| birth_place = Berlin, German Empire
| death_date =6 November 1945 (aged 56)
| death_place = Vyazma, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union
| height = {{convert|1.78|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| weight = {{convert|67|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
| country =
| sport =Sprint running
| club =SC Charlottenburg, Berlin
| retired =
| olympics =
| highestranking =
| show-medals = yes
| medaltemplates =
}}
Richard Rau (26 August 1889 – 6 November 1945) was a German SS officer and track and field athlete who competed in the 1912 Summer Olympics.{{cite web|url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/70456 |title=Richard Rau |work=Olympedia |access-date=16 April 2021}}
Biography
Rau started competing in flat sprint and hurdles in 1908, winning several national championships and setting 20 national records over his career, often under the pseudonym Richard Einsporn. Additionally, Rau finished third in the 220 yards event at the 1911 AAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000289/19110703/161/0007 |title=Amateur Athletic Championship |work=Sunderland Daily Echo and Shipping Gazette |date=3 July 1911 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=1 November 2024 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19110703/088/0006 |title=AAA Champions |work=Sporting Life |date=3 July 1911 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=1 November 2024 }}{{cite web|url=https://nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=1 November 2024 }}
At the 1912 Olympic Games, Rau was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100 m and finished fourth in the 200 m competition. He was also a member of the German relay team, which was disqualified in the final of the 4 × 100 m relay after a fault with its second baton passing.
The following year in 1913, Rau finished third behind Willie Applegarth in the 220 yards event at the British 1913 AAA Championships.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19130707/225/0014 |title=Athletic Championships |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |date=7 July 1913 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=16 November 2024 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000893/19130707/144/0006 |title=Athletic Feats |work=Sporting Life |date=7 July 1913 |via=British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription |access-date=16 November 2024 }}
After retirement, he ran a sports shop and, in 1933, joined the Nazi Party, reaching the rank of SS-Sturmbannführer in 1938. During World War II, Wau served in the Waffen-SS. In 1945, he was captured by the American forces and handed over to the Soviet Union. He was shot during a failed escape attempt and moved to a prisoner camp in Vyasma, where he died in a few months.{{cite web |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417055433/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/friv/lists.cgi?id=65 |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |title=Olympians Who Were Killed or Missing in Action or Died as a Result of War |accessdate=24 July 2018 |work=Sports Reference}}
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Rau, Richard}}
Category:Olympic athletes for Germany
Category:German male sprinters
Category:Deaths by firearm in the Soviet Union
Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1912 Summer Olympics
Category:World record setters in athletics (track and field)
Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the United States
Category:German prisoners of war in World War II held by the Soviet Union
Category:German people who died in Soviet detention