Henry Lauterbach (born 22 October 1957 in

Buttstädt Buttstädt is a municipality in the district of Sömmerda, in Thuringia, Germany. It is situated 16 km northeast of Weimar. The former municipalities Ellersleben, Eßleben-Teutleben, Großbrembach, Guthmannshausen, Hardisleben, Kleinbr ...

Bezirk Erfurt The Bezirk Erfurt was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Erfurt. History The district was established, along with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting the old German states. After 3 Octob ...

) is a retired

East German 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 ...

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

er. In the high jump he finished fourth at the 1978 European Championships in

Prague, Czechoslovakia Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate oc ...

and sixth at the 1979 European Indoor Championships in

Vienna, Austria en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. He competed at the 1976 Olympic Games, but did not reach the final round; at the 1980 Olympic Games however he finished fourth. With a jump of 2.29 metres he missed out on the bronze medal by 2 centimetres; the bronze and gold medals were won by his compatriots

Jörg Freimuth Jörg Freimuth (born 10 September 1961 in Rathenow, Bezirk Potsdam) is a retired East German high jumper. He won the bronze medal for East Germany in the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union with a jump of 2.31 metres. He retired ...

and

Gerd Wessig Gerd Wessig (, ; born 16 July 1959 in Lübz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern) was an East German high jumper who won the gold medal in the 1980 Summer Olympics, the first man ever to set a world record in the high jump at the Olympics. Early li ...

respectively. Lauterbach was ranked sixth in the world that season by ''

Track and Field News ''Track & Field News'' is an American monthly sports magazine founded in 1948 by brothers Bert Nelson and Cordner Nelson, focused on the world of track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on runni ...

''. In domestic competitions, Lauterbach represented the sports club SC Turbine Erfurt. He won silver medals at the East German championships in 1976, 1977, 1978 and 1980 and a bronze medal in 1981. The East German champion during those years was usually

Rolf Beilschmidt Rolf Beilschmidt (born 8 August 1953, in Jena) is a retired East German high jumper. Beilschmidt represented the sports club SC Motor Jena, and became East German champion in 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1981. Beilschmidt's persona ...

. Lauterbach became East German indoor champion in 1979. Lauterbach had a personal best high jump of 2.30 metres, achieved in August 1978 in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and, with around 183,000 inhabitants, largest city of the German state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

. Lauterbach also competed in the long jump on an international level, winning the gold medal at the 1982 European Indoor Championships in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. His winning result of 7.86 metres has been improved in all of the later editions of the European Indoor Championships. On the national level Lauterbach won silver medals in this event at the East German championships in 1970, 1972, 1976 and 1981. Additionally he won a bronze medal in 1974. He became East German indoor champion in 1982. His personal best long jump was 8.35 metres, achieved in August 1981 in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

. This ranks him third among German long jumpers, behind Olympic medalists

Lutz Dombrowski Lutz Dombrowski (born 25 June 1959) is a former German track and field athlete and Olympic champion. Early life Dombrowski was born in 1959 in Zwickau. Wilhelm Pieck, who at the time of Dombrowski's birth was president of East Germany, wa ...

and

Frank Paschek Frank Paschek (born 25 June 1956) is a retired East German long jumper. He was born in Bad Doberan, Bezirk Rostock, and won a silver medal for East Germany at the 1980 Summer Olympics held in Moscow, Soviet Union. His personal best jump was 8 ...

, and equal to

Josef Schwarz Josef "Sepp" Schwarz (born 20 Mispণy zl1941 in Strabowitz, Sudetenland, 9.Germany; today Třebovice, Czech Republic) is a retired German long jumper. He represented West Germany at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich. Schwarz set the world's bes ...

.German all-time lists per 1 September 2006
- Deutschen Leichtathletik-Verband

Notes and references

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lauterbach, Henry 1957 births Living people People from Buttstädt People from Bezirk Erfurt East German male high jumpers East German male long jumpers Sportspeople from Thuringia Olympic athletes of East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics