Andreas Tews: Two-Time Olympic Boxing Medalist
Andreas Tews is a former German amateur boxer and two-time Olympic medalist. Born in Rostock on September 11, 1968, he represented East Germany at the 1988 Seoul Games and Germany after reunification at Barcelona in 1992. He won flyweight silver in Seoul, then claimed featherweight gold in Barcelona. Tews did not turn professional, so his career is recorded through amateur and Olympic competition.
Boxing career and major results
Before his Olympic medals, Tews won East German national championships in 1985, 1987 and 1989. He also became European champion in 1987. After German reunification, he won the national championship in 1991 and 1992. Those results place his two Olympic appearances within a longer run of success at domestic and continental level, rather than making the medals isolated achievements.
At Seoul 1988, Tews competed in the men’s flyweight division for the German Democratic Republic. He advanced to the final by winning four bouts, including contests against Hungary’s János Váradi and Mexico’s Mario González. South Korea’s Kim Kwang-sun beat him in the final, leaving Tews with the silver medal. The official Olympic results list Tews as the silver medalist behind Kim.
Four years later, Tews returned to the Olympics as a member of the German team in Barcelona. Competing at featherweight, he won five bouts to take gold. His final opponent was Spain’s Faustino Reyes, whom he defeated 16–7. Tews became an Olympic champion during Germany’s first Summer Games after reunification, adding a gold medal for Germany to the silver he had earned for East Germany.
The two medals came in different weight classes and for different national teams, reflecting both Tews’s movement through the amateur divisions and the political change between the Games. He retired from active competition without a professional record. His place in boxing history rests on the two Olympic podiums, along with the national and European titles he earned during his amateur career.
Sources
Sources: Olympedia athlete profile; BoxRec amateur record; Official Seoul 1988 boxing results; Official Barcelona 1992 boxing results.
Tags
Boxing, Boxing History
