1972 Olympic javelin champion Klaus Wolfermann (© IMAGO)
World Athletics is deeply saddened to hear that Germany’s Klaus Wolfermann, the 1972 Olympic javelin champion, died on Wednesday (18) at the age of 78.
As well as winning gold at the 1972 Olympics in Munich, Wolfermann became a world record-holder. He thew 94.08m in Leverkusen in May 1973, setting a world record that would stand for more than three years.
In 2021 he donated his long sleeve jersey from Munich to the Museum of World Athletics (MOWA).
Wolfermann, whose father was a gymnast, started out in gymnastics and handball. He discovered his talent for throwing at the age of 14 and he was later dubbed the "small giant with a golden arm" by German media.
Wolfermann had gone out in the qualifying round at the 1968 Mexico Olympics but he knew he was in form ahead of the Games in Munich, having surpassed 90 metres for the first time at a test event 10 days prior.
In Munich, Wolfermann defeated his role model and the clear favourite to win, the defending champion Janis Lusis, by two centimetres – 90.48m to 90.46m.
He had achieved that 90.48m throw in the fifth round.
“I knew that Lusis was in top form, he had thrown a world record ahead of Munich with 93.80m,” Wolfermann later recalled. “He was a model of concentration, a man with steel nerves. After all, in Mexico 1968 he had won gold with his last attempt. I was curious if he would be able to counter this time.
“My goal was actually just to get a medal. But suddenly I had beaten the strongest, most dominant javelin thrower, my absolute role model.
“I was just happy that we already had a digital distance measurement then,” Wolfermann added. “Two centimetres are nothing. If they had done it with a tape measure, I wonder if it had been that accurate, say if the grass had been a little uneven.”
After celebrating his Olympic title win in autumn 1972, Wolfermann returned to hard training in January 1973.
His coach thought there was more to come and Wolfermann proved it. His 94.08m throw four months later added 28cm to the world record that Lusis had set in Stockholm in July 1972.
“With Klaus Wolfermann, German athletics has lost a great personality who not only won the Olympic gold medal in an unforgettable javelin competition at the 1972 Munich Games, but was also one of the most popular athletes and was named Sportsman of the Year in Germany in 1971/1972,” said German Athletics Federation Chairman Idriss Gonschinska.
After his own competitive career came to an end, Wolfermann remained connected to sport through his marketing agency.
World Athletics
