Carl Kaufmann (25 March 1936 – 1 September 2008) was a

American born ''American Born'' is a 1913 American drama silent short film starring Sydney Ayres, Harry Van Meter, Charles Cummings, Jacques Jaccard, Louise Lester, Charles Morrison, Jack Richardson and Vivian Rich Vivian Rich (May 26, 1893 – Novemb ...

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

sprint runner. Kaufmann initially specialized in the 200 m, but in 1958 changed to 400 m and won a European silver medal in the 4×400 m relay. Between 15 September 1959 and 6 September 1960 he set four European records in 400 metres, reducing the time down to 44.9 s, which remained the record until the 1968

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in Mexico City. He competed for the

United Team of Germany The United Team of Germany (german: Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes f ...

at the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

in the 400 metres and won the silver. The finish line picture of Kaufmann's desperate lunge to try to capture the gold has been shown in many track and field publications.Otis , 1960 400 meter and 4x400m Olympic Champion
speedendurance.com. 13 September 2009 Both Kaufmann and Davis set a new world-record time at 44.9 s and became the first athletes to run the 400 m with 45 seconds. Kaufmann then joined team mates

Joachim Reske Hans-Joachim "Jochen" Reske (born 9 April 1940) is a West German former track and field athlete, who mainly competed in the 400 metres. He won a silver medal at the 1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi d ...

Manfred Kinder Manfred Kinder (born 20 April 1938) is a West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German r ...

and

Johannes Kaiser Johannes "Jo" Kaiser (27 February 1936 in Jüngersdorf, Düren – 17 December 1996 in Zürich, Switzerland) was a West German athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres. He committed suicide in 1996. He competed for the United Team of ...

in the 4×400 m relay, where they won the silver medal. After retiring from competitions Kaufmann was running an amateur theatre in Karlsruhe, where he died aged 72.

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1936 births 2008 deaths German male sprinters Olympic silver medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic athletes of the United Team of Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics European Athletics Championships medalists Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Sportspeople from Brooklyn Track and field athletes from New York City {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub