Olaf Beyer (born 4 August 1957 in

Grimma Grimma (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Central Germany, on the left bank of the Mulde, southeast of Leipzig. Founded in 1170, it is part of the Leipzig district. Location The town is in northern Saxony, southeast of Leipzig and south of Wurz ...

) is a former

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

800 metres runner.

Biography

He won the gold medal at the 1978 European Championships in Prague. In that race he beat the future world-record holder

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, incl ...

and the future Olympic Champion

Steve Ovett Stephen Michael James Ovett, (; born 9 October 1955) is a retired British track athlete. A middle-distance runner, he was the gold medalist in the 800 metres at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow. Ovett set five world records for 1500 metre ...

both from the UK. Beyer's time of 1:43.84 made him temporarily the fourth-fastest 800m runner of all time. Beyer himself explained to the British sports journalist and writer Pat Butcher that he won that surprising championship because for the first and only time in his career, he had been able to train for the previous year free from injuries. He also ran intelligently, not taking the lead until the final tens of metres, but at the same time following Coe and Ovett closely. Ultimately, in Beyer's opinion, he was in a good shape that day and could thus defeat even Ovett, who was known as a sharp kicker (see Pat Butcher, The Perfect Distance: Ovett&Coe: The Record-Breaking Rivalry, London: Weidenfeld&Nicolson, 2004). In the 1978 European Athletics Championships, he also participated in 1,500 metres where he placed ninth (see, for example, "European Championships Prague" / EM-Praha, Tapio Pekola et al., eds., Kaarina, Finland: "Runner" / Juoksija magazine, 1978). After 1978, he continued his competitive running career until at least 1982, but he never won a major international championship again. In the 1980 Moscow Olympics, he was surprisingly eliminated in the 800-metre semifinals, and he placed seventh in the 1982 European Athletics Championships 800-metre final (see, for example, "The Moscow Olympic Book" / Moskovan Olympiakirja, Tapio Pekola et al., eds., Helsinki, Finland: "Runner" / Juoksija magazine, 1980; Markku Siukonen and Matti Ahola, eds., "The Great European Championships Book" / Suuri EM-kirja, Jyväskylä, Finland: Sports Publications Ltd. / Sportti-Kustannus Oy, 1990). Beyer has remained a keen and successful fun runner since the end of his track career.http://www.iaaf.org/news/kind=2/newsId=32793.html 'Beyer rises to the top of the podium once more', 1 December 2005, iaaf.org.

References

1957 births Living people People from Grimma Athletes from Bezirk Leipzig East German male middle-distance runners Olympic athletes for East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists East German Athletics Championships winners {{East Germany-athletics-bio-stub