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Gauder Hartwig

Personal information

Date of birth   10-11-1954 Birthplace   Vaihingen an der Enz Nationality   Germany Date of death   22-04-2020

Hartwig Gauder: one of the greatest walkers of the 50km of all time
Winner of 2 medals at the Olympic Games << Moscow 1980: gold and Seoul 1988: bronze >>
&
2 medals at the World Championships which were held every four years << Rome 1987: gold and Tokio 1991: bronze >>
&
the same number (medals/ titels) at the European Championships, also held with a 4-year frequency << Stuttgart 1986: gold and Split 1990: bronze >>

Hartwig Gauder was born in Vaihingen an der Enz, a town located between Stuttgart and Karlsruhe, in the former West Germany.
Due to an inheritance of property in Ilmenau, the family moved in 1960 to East Germany, the former GDR.
Gauder began competing for East Germany at that time. After the German reunification on 3 October 1990, he ended in 1993 his successful, international career for Germany.  

International honors

Olympic Games

Olympic gold medalist 50 km Race walk in Moscow (RUS)

Podium Race walk 50 km Moscow 1980

1. Hartwig Gauder (GDR)    3 h 49' 24"
2. Jorge Llopart (E)               3 h 51' 25" 
3. Evgueni Ivchenko (RUS)   3 h 56' 32"

Olympic bronze medalist 50 km Race walk in Seoul (ROK)

Podium Race walk 50 km Seoul 1988

1. Viacheslav Ivanenko (RUS)   3 h 38' 29" 
2. Ronald Weigel (GDR)            3 h 38' 56"
3. Hartwig Gauder (GDR)         3 h 39' 45"  

World Championships

World champion in the 50 km Race walk in Rome (I)

Podium Race walk 50 km Rome 1987 

1. Hartwig Gauder (GDR)        3 h 40' 53"
2. Ronald Weigel (GDR)            3 h 41' 30" 
3. Viacheslav Ivanenko (RUS)   3 h 44' 02"  

Bronze medalist in the 50 km Race walk in Tokyo (J)

Podium Race walk 50 km Tokyo 1991 

1. Aleksandr Potashov (RUS)   3 h 53' 09" 
2. Andrey Perlov (RUS)            3 h 53' 09" 
3. Hartwig Gauder (D)             3 h 55' 14"    

European Athletics Championships 

European champion in the 50 km Race walk in Stuttgart (D)

Podium Race walk 50 km Stuttgart 1986 

1. Hartwig Gauder (GDR)         3 h 40' 55"
2. Viacheslav Ivanenko (RUS)   3 h 41' 54"    
3. Valery Suntsov (RUS)            3 h 42' 38"   

Bronze medalist in the 50 km Race walk in Split (HR)

Podium Race walk 50 km Split 1990 

1. Andrey Perlov (RUS)      3 h 54' 36"
2. Bernd Gummelt (GDR)   3 h 56' 33"  
3. Hartwig Gauder (D)       4 h 00' 48"    

European Junior Championships 

Gold medalist in the 10 km Race walk track in Duisburg (D)

Podium Race walk 10 km Duisburg 1973 

1. Hartwig Gauder (GDR)        44' 13"
2. Evgueni Semerdzhiev (BG)   44' 41"  
3. Angelo Di Chio (I)                  45' 31"   

Medal record 

Olympic Games                             1 x gold / 1 x bronze   
World Championships                    1 x gold / 1 x bronze
European Championships              1 x gold / 1 x bronze 
European Junior Championships   1 x gold 
       total number of medals            7 

Merits

Hartwig Gauder, one of the best walkers of the 50 km all time, has, in his career, multiple times set a time under the mythical 4-hour limit for the 50 km Race walk. 

 22 performances under 4 hours over 50 km ► best performance   3 h 39' 45"   13,652 km/h

Best memories

My top three unforgettable memories in my career are in descending order:

♦:My victory in the 50 km at the Olympic Games in Moscow (Russia) 1980, awarded with the prestigious title of << Olympic champion >> ;

♦ My gold medal at the Rome's 1987 World Championships in the men's 50 km Race walk, awarded with the prestigious title of << World champion >> ;

♦ My victory in the 50 km at the European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart 1986, crowned with the title of << European champion >>. 

Personal bests

♦ 5000 m Race walk     18' 59"   1988   Turin (I) 

♦ 10000 m Race walk   40' 26"   14,839 km/h   1983   Senftenberg (D, formerly GDR)
♦ 10 km Race walk       39' 54"   15,038 km/h   1988   Berlin (D)   

♦ 20 km Race walk road   1 h 20' 51"   14,842 km/h   1987   Värnamo (S)

♦ 50 km Race walk road   3 h 39' 45"   13,652 km/h   1988   Seoul (ROK)  

Mourning for walking legend Hartwig Gauder

Olympic champion Hartwig Gauder has passed away at age of 65.

German Sports mourns the loss of Olympic champion Hartwig Gauder. He died of a heart attack at the age of 65, as confirmed by his wife.  

In 50 km race walking, a class apart worldwide

Gauder won gold in the 50km walk as an East German athlete at the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, which were boycotted by the West. He missed the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles due to the boycott of the Eastern Bloc states. In Stuttgart 1986, Gauder became European champion in the 50 km and in Rome 1987, he became world champion. Furthermore, he won bronze three more times at the following major events: the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, the 1990 European Championships in Split and the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo.
In 1993, Gauder ended his successful career.

First an artificial heart, then a donor heart

Two years later, a decline in cardiac capacity was diagnosed with the previously perfectly healthy world-class athlete. The cause was a bacterial infection to the heart. By this heavy setback, he initially received an artificial heart in 1996, and the next year in 1997, he had a donor heart implanted. Gauder was therefore often referred to as the << Olympic champion with three hearts >>.

In the "Hall of Fame" of German Sports

The architect Hartwig Gauder was a co-founder and chairman of the association "Sportsmen for Organ Donation". With his donor heart, Gauder completed the New York marathon as a walker in 1999 and climbed in 2003 Japan's Mount Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan and a sacred place in Japanese culture.
 In 2016, Gauder was inducted into the << Hall of Fame of German Sports >>.
"Hartwig Gauder was not only a walking legend and a great Olympic champion, but also an outstanding personality in sports", said Jürgen Kessing, president of the German Athletics Association.

We mourn the loss of a great person. His memory lives on.

Palmares

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