Carl Kaufmann (25 March 1936 – 1 September 2008) was an American born

West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republic after its capital c ...

sprint runner. Kaufmann initially specialized in the 200 m, but in 1958 changed to 400 m and won a European silver medal in the relay. Between 15 September 1959 and 6 September 1960 he set four European records in 400 metres, reducing the time down to 44.9 s, which remained the record until the 1968

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

in Mexico City. He competed for the

United Team of Germany The United Team of Germany () was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter Olympic Games, Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes from a third ...

at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad () and commonly known as Rome 1960 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 25 August to 11 September 1960 in Rome, Italy. Rome had previously been awar ...

in the 400 metres and won the silver. The finish line picture of Kaufmann's desperate lunge to try to capture the gold has been shown in many track and field publications.Otis , 1960 400 meter and 4x400m Olympic Champion
speedendurance.com. 13 September 2009 Both Kaufmann and Davis set a new world-record time at 44.9 s and became the first athletes to run the 400 m with 45 seconds. Kaufmann then joined teammates

Joachim Reske Hans-Joachim "Jochen" Reske (born 9 April 1940) is a West German former track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He won a silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the G ...

Manfred Kinder Manfred Kinder (born 20 April 1938) is a West German West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is ...

and Johannes Kaiser in the relay, where they won the silver medal. After retiring from competitions Kaufmann was running an amateur theatre in Karlsruhe, where he died aged 72.

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* 1936 births 2008 deaths German male sprinters Olympic silver medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic athletes for the United Team of Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Track and field athletes from Brooklyn West German Athletics Championships winners 20th-century German sportsmen {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub