Hartwig Gauder (10 November 1954 – 22 April 2020) was a German race walker who won a gold medal in the Men's 50 kilometres walk at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow.

Hartwig Gauder
Gauder in 1994
Personal information
Born(1954-11-10)10 November 1954
Vaihingen an der Enz, West Germany
Died22 April 2020(2020-04-22) (aged 65)
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing  East Germany
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 1980 Moscow 50 km walk
Bronze medal – third place 1988 Seoul 50 km walk
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1987 Rome 50 km walk
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1986 Stuttgart 50 km walk
Bronze medal – third place 1990 Split 50 km walk
European Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 1981 Grenoble 5 km walk
Representing  Germany
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1991 Tokyo 50 km walk

Born in West Germany, his family moved to East Germany in 1960 when they inherited property at Ilmenau. Gauder thus competed for East Germany.[1]

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.[1]

His recovery from almost dying to returning into a normal life was covered in a documentary shown on German documentary channel Phoenix.[1]

Gauder died while undergoing dialysis on 22 April 2020, aged 65.[2] The cause of death was a heart attack complicated by kidney failure.[3]

International competitions

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References

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  1. ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Hartwig Gauder". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
  2. ^ "Medienbericht - DDR-Olympia-Held Hartwig Gauder (65) tot!". bild.de. 22 April 2020.
  3. ^ Houston, Michael (23 April 2020). "Olympic race walking gold medallist Gauder dies of heart attack". Inside the Games. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
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