Volker Beck (athlete)

Volker Beck

Volker Beck (born June 30, 1956 in Nordhausen ) is a German athlete who mainly started over 400 meter hurdles . In this discipline he was Olympic champion in Moscow in 1980 for the GDR with a time of 48.70 s, making him the only German 400-meter hurdle Olympic champion. However, he benefited from the US Olympic boycott , due to which the high favorite Edwin Moses was not at the start. He also won a silver medal in Moscow with the GDR's 4 x 400 meter relay.

More Achievements

• 1975 Junior European Championships in Athens : 1st place over 4 × 400 m, 2nd place over 400 m hurdles
• 1977 European Cup winner Helsinki (48.90 s - first German under 49 seconds)
• 1977 World Cup Düsseldorf 2nd place over 400 m hurdles (48.83 s); 2nd place over 400 m (45.50 s)
• 1979 European Cup Turin 3rd place 400 m hurdles in 48.58 s
• 1979 World Cup Montreal 4th place 400 m hurdles in 49.66 s
• 1981 European Cup winner Zagreb 400 m hurdles in 48.94 s
• 1981 World Cup Rome 2nd place 400 m hurdles in 49.16 s
• GDR champions in 1980, 1981 and 1983 over 400 m hurdles

Volker Beck belonged to the sports club SC Turbine Erfurt . With a height of 1.91 m, he had a competition weight of 82 kg.

After his active career, Volker Beck worked as a trainer, a. a. as national trainer for the German Athletics Association (DLV) and at LG Eintracht Frankfurt (Main), where he looked after the 400-meter runner and Nils Schumann , who has since resigned the 2000 Olympic champion in the 800-meter run .

Awards (selection)

• 1980: Patriotic Order of Merit in silver

literature

• Short biography for:  Beck, Volker . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Volker Beck  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• www.viertelmeiler.de
• Volker Beck in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )