Hartwig Gauder (10 November 1954 – 22 April 2020) was a German race walker who won a gold medal in the 50 kilometres walk at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.
Born in West Germany, his family moved to East Germany in 1960 when they inherited property at Ilmenau. Gauder thus competed for East Germany.
In 1996 Gauder started suffering from a virus infection of his heart. After living with an artificial heart for several months, he received a heart transplant. He subsequently took part in the New York Marathon several times. Being classified as a disabled participant due to his transplant, he was once disqualified for being too fast as there was a minimum time, which he underran.
His recovery from almost dying to returning into a normal life was covered in a documentary shown on German documentary channel Phoenix.
Gauder died while undergoing dialysis on 22 April 2020, aged 65. The cause of death was a heart attack complicated by kidney failure.
International competitions Olympic Games 1980 Moscow – gold 1988 Seoul – bronze World Championships 1987 Rome – gold 1991 Tokyo – bronze European Championships 1986 Stuttgart – gold 1990 Split – bronze
References
Sporting Heroes
External links