Joaquín Blume

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox gymnast Joaquín Blume (Template:Langx; 21 June 1933 – 29 April 1959) was a Spanish gymnast. The son of a German gymnastics instructor established in Barcelona,<ref name="elmundo">50 años sin Joaquim Blume</ref> he belonged to the gymnastics section of FC Barcelona.<ref name="fcb_arxiu">50 años de la muerte de Joaquín Blume</ref>

He became Spanish gymnastics champion at 15<ref name="elmundo" /> and he competed in the 1952 Summer Olympics of Helsinki with only 19 years.<ref name="fcb_arxiu" /> He went to win eight medals in the 1955 Mediterranean Games<ref name="elmundo" /> and in 1957 he won the European Championship, defeating favourite Yuri Titov.<ref name="fcb_arxiu" /> He was a favourite for the 1956 Summer Olympics of Melbourne, until Spain boycotted the games in protest against the presence of the USSR, after their brutal suppression of the Hungarian Revolution.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

He was also a favourite in the 1960 Summer Olympics, but he died in a plane crash at the Valdemeca mountains, in Cuenca, on 29 April 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.<ref name="fcb_arxiu" /><ref>La Vanguardia - Edición del viernes, 27 abril 1984, página 44 </ref>

In his honour, the Catalan Gymnastics Federation started in 1969 the Memorial Joaquim Blume tournament, first only of male gymnastics with female competition introduced in 1972.<ref name="elmundo" /> A sculpture in his honour is displayed at the Gardens of Joan Brossa, in Barcelona.

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