Klaus Beer (14 November 1942 – 8 June 2023) was a

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

athlete active in the 1960s 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 ...

. Beer is best known for having won the silver medal in the long jump at the 1968 Summer Olympics, well behind Bob Beamon's record setting performance – Beamon jumped 8.90 m, while Beer jumped 8.19 m.

Biography

Beer was born in

Liegnitz Legnica (Polish: ; german: Liegnitz, szl, Lignica, cz, Lehnice, la, Lignitium) is a city in southwestern Poland, in the central part of Lower Silesia, on the Kaczawa River (left tributary of the Oder) and the Czarna Woda. Between 1 June 1975 ...

Gau Lower Silesia The Gau Lower Silesia (German: ''Gau Niederschlesien'') was an administrative division of Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1945 in the Lower Silesia part of the Prussian Province of Silesia. The Gau was created when the Gau Silesia was split into Lower S ...

German Reich German ''Reich'' (lit. German Realm, German Empire, from german: Deutsches Reich, ) was the constitutional name for the German nation state that existed from 1871 to 1945. The ''Reich'' became understood as deriving its authority and sovereignty ...

(today Legnica,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

). Beer won the silver medal in the

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 ...

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 ...

, well behind

Bob Beamon Robert Beamon (born August 29, 1946) is an American former track and field athlete, best known for his world record in the long jump at the Mexico City Olympics in 1968. By jumping 8.90 m (29 ft. 2.5 in), he broke the existing record by ...

's record setting performance – Beamon jumped 8.90 m, while Beer jumped 8.19 m. Beer was a seven time (1961, 1962, 1964, 1967–1970) East German champion competing outdoors and a national champion four times (1965, 1968–1970) indoors. He came in second at the

European Indoor Athletics Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

. He also came in second at the 1970 European Cup Finals, Europe's team championship, which East Germany won that year. Beer coached

Kofi Amoah Prah Kofi Amoah Prah (born 20 December 1974 in Accra, Ghana) is a retired Ghanaian-German long jumper. He won the silver medal at the 1992 European Indoor Championships, finished seventh at the 1998 IAAF World Cup, eleventh at the 1998 European Cham ...

and Steffen Landgraf hope. Beer died on 8 June 2023, at the age of 80.Flash-News des Tages

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Beer, Klaus 1942 births 2023 deaths People from Legnica People from the Province of Lower Silesia East German male long jumpers Sportspeople from Lower Silesian Voivodeship 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 Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze