At the 1975 European Championships in Bern, Switzerland, Nikolai Andrianov defeated Eberhard Gienger by a mere 0.050. But the real drama didn’t happen on the competition floor; it unfolded behind the scenes. East German gymnast Wolfgang Thüne, the 1974 silver medalist on high bar, vanished during the post-competition banquet, defecting to the West in an act that stunned his teammates and confused officials. For decades, whispers swirled. Had he hitchhiked across the border?
It wasn’t until 1999 that the truth came out. Eberhard Gienger, the legendary gymnast behind the eponymous high bar release move, had been keeping a secret for 24 years. It was he who had secretly driven Thüne across the border, and their story began in the most unlikely of places: in a bathroom.
