Günter Zahn

Günter Zahn as trainer (2016)

Günter Zahn (born March 23, 1954 in Obernzell ) is a former German long-distance runner .

In 1972 Zahn became DLV youth champion in the 1500 meter run with a time of 3: 59.6 minutes and remained active until the mid-1980s.

Günter Zahn is successful in Passau as a trainer at the LG Passau and still serves as a volunteer helper for the Munich Marathon .

For LAC Quelle Fürth , Zahn was a successful starter on all routes between 1500 m as a youth champion and a decade later in the marathon. However, his career began in 1970 at 1. FC Passau , before he in 1974 to LAC Quelle Fürth changed. In the middle distance, the later police officer was German cross-country champion from 1976 to 1978 . He also took part in four World Cross Country Championships (in Chepstow, Düsseldorf, Glasgow and Madrid) and took part in eleven international matches for the Federal Republic of Germany. He won a total of 23 German championship titles from youth to senior level and achieved the following best times:

• 3000 m : 8: 04.7 min, July 30th 1975, Bad Aibling
  • Hall: 7: 58.0 min, February 7, 1976, Dortmund
• 5000 m : 13: 54.4 min, June 28, 1980, Schweinfurt
• 10,000 m : 28: 46.60 min, August 27, 1980, Koblenz
• Marathon: 2:15:29 h, October 23, 1983 New York City

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, he was the last runner of the torch relay and lit the Olympic flame in the Olympic Stadium . After the organizing committee announced that the only 18-year-old was given this task, the sports outfitters adidas and Puma competed for outfitter rights. Adidas pointed out that Zahn, who had previously swapped shoe brands for Brütting in the winter , was not allowed to change again in the 1972 season according to a contract with the DLV. The result was that Günter Zahn ran in Munich with white Brütting shoes without any company logo.

After his active career, Günter Zahn was a successful trainer at the LG Passau.

literature

• Klaus Amrhein: Biographical manual on the history of German athletics 1898–2005. 2 volumes. Darmstadt 2005 (published by Deutsche Leichtathletik Promotion- und Projektgesellschaft )

Web links

• Günter Zahn in the database of World Athletics (English)