Frank Pfütze (15 January 1959 – 20 January 1991) was a German freestyle

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

who competed at the

1976 Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phila ...

and

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

in five events. He won a silver medal in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay in 1980 and finished fifth in the same event in 1976. In individual events he was eliminated in the preliminaries He also won four medals at the

1975 World Aquatics Championships The 1975 World Aquatics Championships took place in Cali, Colombia between July 19 and July 27, 1975, with 682 participating athletes. Medal table Medal summary Diving ;Men ;Women Swimming ;Men ;Women Synchronised swimming Wat ...

and

LEN European Aquatics Championships The European Aquatics Championships is the continental Aquatics championship for Europe, which is organised by LEN—the governing body for aquatics in Europe. The Championships are currently held every two years (in even years); and since 2022, t ...

of 1974 and 1977, including one gold in the 1500 m freestyle (1974), setting a new European record. He broke another European record in 1976, in the 400 m freestyle.400 Free Men
europeanchampionships.org Pfütze died of a sudden heart failure at age 32, leaving a wife and a son. Whereas the cause of his death remained uncertain, it was tentatively related to the East German doping program that Pfütze was involved in.

References

1959 births 1991 deaths Sportspeople from Rostock People from Bezirk Rostock German male swimmers German male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers of East Germany Swimmers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for East Germany World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze 20th-century German people {{Germany-swimming-bio-stub