Christoph Höhne (born 12 February 1941 in

Borsdorf Borsdorf is a municipality in the Leipzig district in Saxony, Germany. Geography Modern Borsdorf municipality consists of three historical villages: Borsdorf (originally the smallest among the three, serving as a toll station at the historical ma ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

) is a

racewalker Racewalking, or race walking, is a long-distance discipline within the sport of athletics. Although a foot race, it is different from running in that one foot must appear to be in contact with the ground at all times. Race judges carefully asse ...

who competed in the 50 km walk for

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

in the 1960s and 1970s.

Career

Höhne won the gold medal in the 50 km walk at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and participated in the Olympics in 1964 and 1972. His Olympic victory made history as his margin of victory was over ten minutes. He participated in an episode of the cold war in sports at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

. On the evening before the race, East German officials received an anonymous tip that he wanted to defect during the 50 km race. They did not believe the allegations, but Höhne went to the start line unnerved and finished in fourteenth place. Höhne won gold in the 50 km walk at the European Championships in

1969 This year is notable for Apollo 11's first landing on the moon. Events January * January 4 – The Government of Spain hands over Ifni to Morocco. * January 5 **Ariana Afghan Airlines Flight 701 crashes into a house on its approach to ...

and 1974, and a silver in 1971. He won the

IAAF World Race Walking Cup The World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships is a racewalking event organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations. It has been held since 1961, and generally on a biennial basis. Women first entered the 1979 edition. ...

in the 50 km walk in 1965, 1967 and 1970, and came in third in 1973. During his career Höhne competed for the

SV Dynamo The Sportvereinigung Dynamo () (''Dynamo Sports Association'') was the Sports associations (East Germany), sport association of the security agencies (Volkspolizei, Stasi, Ministry for State Security, fire department and customs) of former East G ...

sports club and was trained by Max Weber.

Post-career

After his sports career, Höhne studied

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

and became a well known sports photographer in East Germany. Among other things, he received a gold medal at the International Sports Photography Exhibition in

Reus Reus () is the capital of Baix Camp, in the province of Tarragona, in Catalonia, Spain. The area has always been an important producer of wines and spirits, and gained continental importance at the time of the Phylloxera plague. Nowadays it is kno ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

in 1978. After the unification of Germany, he has done freelance photography for the daily newspapers

Junge Welt ''Junge Welt'' (English: ''Young World'', stylized in its logo as ''junge Welt'') is a German daily newspaper, published in Berlin. The jW describes itself as a left-wing and Marxist newspaper. German authorities categorize it as a far-left medi ...

and Sportecho.

Note

Höhne's place of birth is reported as ''Machern'
profile
or as ''Borsdorf'' both in Saxony.

References

External links

*
1941 births Living people People from Leipzig (district) East German male racewalkers Athletes from Saxony Photographers from Saxony Olympic athletes for the United Team of Germany Olympic athletes for East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships winners East German Athletics Championships winners {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub