Olympic champion Klaus Wolfermann is dead. The German javelin throw legend died on Wednesday morning at the age of 78, as BR learned from family circles.
Klaus Wolfermann was an Olympic hero. In 1972 he thrilled the crowds in the Munich Olympic Stadium when he hit the golden throw on September 3rd. For Wolfermann, this day was the greatest “moment of my life.” The Franconian died on Wednesday morning at the age of 78, as BR24Sport learned from family circles.
“Sorry I won”
Even after almost 49 years, Wolfermann was still present in “all the nuances” of the legendary javelin throw duel with his Latvian rival Janis Lusis, who died last year, as he later recounted – from the qualification the day before to the decisive fifth throw , in which he risked everything. He extended the run-up, increasing the speed and throwing 90.48 meters.
In doing so, he sensationally trumped the favorite Lusis, who had become Olympic champion four years earlier and had improved the world record to 93.80 meters two months before the Munich Games.
Even Wolfermann couldn’t believe his luck at the time. “The victory wasn’t actually tangible for me. So I went to Janis Lusis and said: ‘Sorry I won today’.”
In the video: Kreuzer meets … Klaus Wolfermann
The “little giant with the golden arm” becomes a celebrity
The triumph made the Franconian famous in one fell swoop, which he felt at the Munich Games. When attending the high diving competitions, he was placed in the VIP stand next to US actor Kirk Douglas and the future King of Spain Juan Carlos.
“The normal Wolfermann didn’t go in there anymore,” he remembers: “It was a great situation. It was only then that I realized what had happened to me.” As a result of the Munich victory, he was elected “Sportsman of the Year” twice and was also elected to the German Sports “Hall of Fame” in 2011.
In one of the headlines after the sensational coup, he was called the “Little Giant with the Golden Arm” because, at 1.76 meters, he was the smallest among the javelin throwers at the time. “When a small man achieves great things, he is a giant,” said Wolfermann, who compensated for this handicap with speed and agility.
Gold medal remains the only thing international precious metal
But Wolfermann also experienced bitter moments in his career: he was eliminated from qualifying at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico and missed the 1976 Summer Games in Montreal due to injury.
“It was one of my saddest hours ever, watching the javelin throw competition on television,” said Wolfermann, who also threw a world record of 94.08 meters on May 5, 1973. In his later years as an athlete, he pushed the bobsleigh for former World Cup runner-up Georg Heibl.
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Source: BR24 December 18, 2024 – 6:30 p.m
