Olaf Beyer

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Olaf Beyer (1981)
Olaf Beyer (r.) During a cross-country run (1988)
Olaf Beyer at the Grimma City Run 2004

Olaf Beyer (born August 4, 1957 in Grimma ) is a former German middle-distance runner who - starting for the GDR - was among the world's best in the late 1970s and early 1980s. His most significant success is winning the title in the 800 meter run at the 1978 European Championships in Prague : He defeated the favored Britons Steve Ovett and Sebastian Coe and, with a time of 1: 43.84 min, was the fifth fastest runner over this distance.

Life stations

Olaf Beyer was introduced to running through his father Gunther and trained during his childhood and youth first at the BSG unit Grimma and then at Dynamo Grimma. Right from the start, Olaf Beyer used Arthur Lydiard's training method , which was favored by his father. In the 800-meter run he reached 1:53 min as a B-youth and 1:48 min as an A-youth. Furthermore, at the age of 16, Olaf Beyer ran the 5000 meters in 16:01 minutes and the 20 km in 1:10 hours.

In 1976 Olaf Beyer passed the Abitur at the Extended High School Ernst Schneller (today again: Gymnasium St. Augustin ) in Grimma . After graduating from high school, Olaf switched to ASK Vorwärts Potsdam due to the prevailing sports system in the GDR, and from then on trained under the direction of Bernd Dießner . He studied mathematics and physics at the Potsdam University of Education .

At the European Championships in Prague in 1978, Olaf Beyer won the title in 1: 43.84 minutes.

At the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow , he won the 800-meter heat and was eliminated in the semifinals after injuring himself a year earlier while playing football and having had two ankle operations.

In 1981 Olaf Beyer was able to achieve his best time in the 1500 meter run at the World Cup in Athletics in Rome with 3: 35.58 minutes . In 1982 he finished seventh over 800 meters at the European Championships in Athens . In 1985 he ended his competitive sports career.

Beyer is training eighth of the 2005 German Championships over 800 meters Sascha Stephan , as well as his son Stefan, a talented 400-meter runner with a best time of 47.02 seconds. He is also active as an instructor in the presidium of the Brandenburg Athletics Association.

In 2004 he became the North German Senior Champion in Berlin in the M45 class in the 800-meter run (2: 08.15 min) and the 1500-meter run (4: 19.40 min).

Olaf Beyer is 1.86 m tall and weighed 69 kg during his active time (75 kg today). By profession he is a teacher of mathematics, physics and computer science at the Voltaire Comprehensive School in Potsdam . As a trainer, he is also in charge of the 2008 team, with which he won the Berlin marathon relay in 2005.

Results at international championships

  • Indoor European Championships 1977 : 800 m - run 2nd in 1: 49.7 min, intermediate run 3rd in 1: 49.6 min
  • European Indoor Championships 1978 : 800 m - first run in 1: 51.0 min, final run 2nd in 1: 47.7 min
  • European Championships 1978 :
    • 800 m - forward run 1st in 1: 47.7 min, intermediate run 2nd in 1: 46.7 min, final run 1st in 1: 43.84 min
    • 1500 m - forward run 3rd in 3: 40.1 min, final run 9th in 3: 39.7 min
  • Olympic Games 1980: 800 m - first run in 1: 48.88 min, intermediate run 4th in 1: 47.56 min
  • European Championships 1982: 800 m - first run in 1: 47.97 min, intermediate run 2nd in 1: 48.05 min, final run 7th in 1: 47.36 min

Personal best

  • 400 m : 47.53 s, August 25, 1978, Potsdam
  • 800 m: 1: 43.84 min, August 31, 1978, Prague
    • Hall: 1: 47.68 min, March 12, 1978, Milan (extra length track: 1: 47.0 min, January 27, 1980, Senftenberg )
  • 1000 m : 2: 17.64 min, August 28, 1982, Potsdam
  • 1500 m: 3: 35.58 min, September 5, 1981, Rome
    • Hall: 3: 39.6 min, January 16, 1980, Cottbus (extra-long run)
  • 2000 m : 5: 02.6 min, July 12, 1984, Potsdam
    • Hall: 5: 05.7 min, February 7, 1981, Potsdam
  • 3000 m : 8: 02.17 min, June 10, 1987, Neubrandenburg

Web links

Commons : Olaf Beyer  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ^ IAAF: Beyer rises to the top of the podium once more ( Memento of December 3, 2005 in the Internet Archive ). December 1, 2005
personal data
SURNAME Beyer, Olaf
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German middle distance runner
DATE OF BIRTH 4th August 1957
PLACE OF BIRTH Grimma