Joaquim Blume - Barcelona, Spain
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denben
N 41° 22.146 E 002° 10.024
31T E 430341 N 4580066
The statue of Barcelona gymnast Joaquim Blume by Nicolau Ortiz (1966), is located at the Jardins de Joan Brossa in Montjuïc, Barcelona.
Waymark Code: WMQT4V
Location: Cataluña, Spain
Date Posted: 03/26/2016
Views: 5
What was the Montjuïc Fun fair for over 30 years is now a large green space covered with abundant and very Mediterranean vegetation. Halfway between a forest park and a city garden, the Gardens of Joan Brossa have characteristics of both, especially those typical of a forest. The park has many interesting species of trees and four lovely statues of famous entertainers from the former Fun fair dotted around the gardens. They are statues of Catalan clown Charlie Rivel, Charlie Chaplin, the Barcelona flamenco dancer Carmen Amaya and Barcelona gymnast Joaquim Blume.
Joaquim Blume (June 21, 1933 – April 29, 1959) was a Spanish gymnast. The son of a German gymnastics instructor established in Barcelona, he belonged to the gymnastics section of FC Barcelona. He became Spanish gymnastics champion at 15 and he competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics of Helsinki at only 19 years old. He won eight medals in the 1955 Mediterranean Games and in 1957 he won the European Championship, defeating favourite Yuri Titov. He was a favourite for the 1956 Summer Olympics of Melbourne, until Spain boycotted the games in protest against the presence of the USSR. He was also a favourite in the 1960 Summer Olympics, but he died in a plane crash at the Valdemeca mountains, in Cuenca, on April 29, 1959. The plane was headed for Canarias, where the Spanish gymnastics team were to do a gymnastics exhibition. His wife, also a gymnast and pregnant with their second child, was also a passenger. There were no survivors. In his honour, the Catalonian Gymnastics Federation started in 1969 the Memorial Joaquim Blume tournament.
Displayed at the Gardens of Joan Brossa, the larger than life size statue depicts Joaquim Blume in a bodysuit doing the rings attached to the Olympic rings. It is named "A Joaquim Blume".
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