Falk Balzer (born 14 December 1973 in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

) is a former German

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

, the son of former East German hurdler

Karin Balzer Karin Balzer (''née'' Richert; 5 June 1938 – 17 December 2019) was an East German hurdler who competed in the 80 m hurdles event at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics, and in the 100 m hurdles in 1972. She won a gold medal in 1964 and a bronz ...

. He is best known for winning the silver medal at the 1998 European Championships in

Budapest, Hungary Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population o ...

. He represented his native country at the

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

Sydney, Australia Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and List of cities in Oceania by population, Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metro ...

. Between 1994 and 1997, Balzer studied philosophy and psychology, then German and history until 2004, when he was awarded a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

. He also studied law as a minor subject between 1999 and 2003. During his studies, he was part of the

Bundeswehr The ''Bundeswehr'' (, meaning literally: ''Federal Defence'') is the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. The ''Bundeswehr'' is divided into a military part (armed forces or ''Streitkräfte'') and a civil part, the military part con ...

Frankenberg sports promotion group from 1997 until 2000. In his last year, he was awarded the Cross of Honour of the Bundeswehr in silver.

Doping

Balzer tested positive for

nandrolone Nandrolone, also known as 19-nortestosterone, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) which is used in the form of esters such as nandrolone decanoate (brand name Deca-Durabolin) and nandrolone phenylpropionate (brand name Durabolin). Nandrol ...

in January 2001. The

German Athletics Federation The German Athletics Association (German: ''Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband'', DLV) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Germany. Since 2010, Germany's kits are supplied by Nike. See also * German Athletics Championships *East G ...

subsequently handed him a two-year doping ban.

References

*
Profile
1973 births Doping cases in athletics German sportspeople in doping cases Living people German male hurdlers Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Germany Athletes from Leipzig European Athletics Championships medalists Recipients of the Badge of Honour of the Bundeswehr {{Germany-hurdles-bio-stub