Udo Beyer

Udo Beyer (born August 9, 1955 in Stalinstadt, today Eisenhüttenstadt) is a former East German track and field athlete who competed in the shot put.

Life

Beyer is the oldest of the six children of heating mechanic Hans-Georg Beyer and his wife Eva-Marie. He grew up in Breslack, (today the municipality of Neißemünde), and in Eisenhüttenstadt. Like all of his siblings, he played handball for the local sport club and even was selected to be a member of the team chosen to represent the district in Frankfurt where he became a successful goalkeeper. On the advice of his father he decided to pursue a sporting career, concentrating on athletics. After the youth tournament in 1969, he changed to the youth sports school in Frankfurt (Oder), where he earned his "Abitur". At the same time he became a member of ASK Vorwärts Frankfurt. In 1970 Ernst Kühl became his trainer, himself a successful shot putter and discus thrower for East Germany. Kühl had taken part in the 1960 and 1964 unified German team at the Summer Olympic games. In 1973 Beyer changed clubs as well as coaches moving to ASK Vorwärts Potsdam under Lothar Hillebrand. In Potsdam he concentrated solely on the shot put and began also studying at the University to become a physical education teacher. As a member of the Army sports club (ASK) Beyer was also a sports officer of the NVA and had also become Hauptmann (Captain) in the Bundeswehr. His sport career was essentially over after the 1988 Summer Olympic games, but his wife was able to convince him in 1990 to continue until 1992.

For many years, Beyer was captain of the East German athletics national team.

At a height of 1.94 meters, he weighed 130 kilograms. Even for a shot putter, Beyer was exceptionally strong.

At the end of his sport career, Beyer started work as a travel agent and has owned a travel agency in Potsdam since 1996. He lives in Potsdam and has been married since 1976 and has had two daughters, one of whom died as a child.

It should be noted that all of his siblings were very active in sports. At the Summer Olympics of 1980 in Moscow, Udo was with his sister Gisela Beyer and his brother Hans-Georg Beyer. All three reached their respective final rounds: Hans-Georg was Olympic champion with his handball team, Udo was third in the shot put and Gisela was fourth in the discus. His sister Gudrun was also with him at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, as a physical therapist.

Since 2004 Beyer is also the "Chocolate Ambassador" for Germany's oldest chocolate factory, Halloren of Halle (Saale). He is also very active as an official representative for the "children's hospice of middle Germany" for terminally ill children and their families.

Results

Together with his long time East German teammate Ulf Timmermann he dominated ten years of competitions in his discipline.

Olympic Games
* 1976 - Olympic Champion
* 1980 - Bronze medal
* 1984 - did not participate due to boycott
* 1988 – Fourth place
* 1992 - eliminated during qualification

RecordsWorld records:
# August 6, 1978: 22.15 m
# July 25, 1983: 22.22 m
# April 20, 1986: 22.64 m (7th place on the world best list as of 2006)

Junior-European records:6.25 kg-shot (Junior-shot)
# July 13, 1973: 21.03 m7,25 kg-shot (Men's-shot)
# July 7, 1973: 19.63 m
# July 6, 1974: 20.20 m
# June 21, 1975: 20.97 m (Current Record, as of August 7, 2005)

European-Championships
* 1973 - Junior-European champion
* 1974 - 8th place
* 1978 - European champion
* 1982 - European champion
* 1986 - Bronze medal
* 1974 - 6th place

IAAF-World cup, Shot put
* 1977, 1979 and 1981 – Winner

European cup, shot put
* 1977, 1979 and 1981 – Winner
* 1985 - 3rd place

East German-Championships
* 1974 - 2nd place
* 1977-1987 - GDR-champion (11 consecutive times)
* 1988 – 2nd place
* 1990 – 3rd place
* 1980 – GDR-Indoor champion

Children- and Youth Spartakiade
* 1972 - Spartakiade winner

Honors

* 1978 – GDR Sportsman of the year
* 2 times patriotic earnings/service medal in Silver
* 7 times Champion of Sport