Rudi Lüttge (19 December 1922 – 23 September 2016) was a German

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 asses ...

, who competed in the

1952 Summer Olympics The 1952 Summer Olympics ( fi, Kesäolympialaiset 1952; sv, Olympiska sommarspelen 1952), officially known as the Games of the XV Olympiad ( fi, XV olympiadin kisat; sv, Den XV olympiadens spel) and commonly known as Helsinki 1952 ( sv, Helsin ...

Career

Lüttge competed for the clubs ''BSG

Büssing Büssing AG was a German bus and truck manufacturer, established in 1903 by Heinrich Büssing (1843–1929) in Braunschweig. It quickly evolved to one of the largest European producers, whose utility vehicles with the Brunswick Lion emblem were wi ...

Braunschweig'' (from 1938 to 1941) and

Eintracht Braunschweig Braunschweiger Turn- und Sportverein Eintracht von 1895 e.V., commonly known as Eintracht Braunschweig () or BTSV (), is a German association football, football and sports club based in Braunschweig, Lower Saxony. The club was one of the founding ...

(from 1941 on). During his career, he won 16

national championships A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the best team, indi ...

– 11 in individual competitions and five with the racewalking team of Eintracht Braunschweig. In 1948, Lüttge set an unofficial world record in the 30 kilometres race walk in

Braunschweig Braunschweig () or Brunswick ( , from Low German ''Brunswiek'' , Braunschweig dialect: ''Bronswiek'') is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, north of the Harz Mountains at the farthest navigable point of the river Oker, which connects it to the Nor ...

Eintracht-Stadion Eintracht-Stadion () is a multi-purpose stadium in Braunschweig, Germany. It is currently used for football and American football matches and is the home stadium of Eintracht Braunschweig and the New Yorker Lions. The stadium is able to hold 2 ...

. The record was never recognized by the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation (from 1912 to 2001) and International Association of Athletics Federations (from 2001 to 2019, both abbreviated as the IAAF) is the international governing body for ...

, as the

German Athletics Association The German Athletics Association (German language, German: ''Deutscher Leichtathletik-Verband'', DLV) is the governing body for the sport of Athletics (sport), athletics in Germany. Since 2010, Germany's kits are supplied by Nike, Inc., Nike. Se ...

had not yet been readmitted as a member after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Lüttge competed in the 50 km walk at the 1952 Summer Olympics in

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

, where he finished 13th. In 1988, he was inducted into the

hall of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...

of the Lower Saxon Institute of Sports History. He died on 23 September 2016 at the age of 93.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Luttge, Rudi 1922 births 2016 deaths German male racewalkers German national athletics champions Athletes (track and field) at the 1952 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for West Germany Sportspeople from Braunschweig People from Ilsenburg Eintracht Braunschweig athletes