Ekkhard Schmidt-Opper was a member of the West German male field hockey teams that won the silver medal at both the 1984 Los Angeles and the 1988 Seoul Olympics. In 1984 the team lost the final 2-1 after extra time against Pakistan, and in 1988 Great Britain won the gold medal after a 3-1 win. Schmidt-Opper won 246 international caps (including 30 indoor) between 1979-90. He won a silver medal at the 1982 Worlds and won the Champions Trophy in 1986-88. At the 1983 Europeans, he won bronze and in 1980 and 1988, collected gold at the European Indoors. He also won bronze medals at the 1986 Worlds and the 1987 Europeans.
Domestically, Schmidt-Opper played with Limburger HC, winning the German national title in 1984 and indoor title in 1985. He then moved to SC 1880 Frankfurt and won the national title again in 1989. After his active career, he took over his parents’ civil engineering company and coached the youth teams of SC 1880 Frankfurt and MTV Kronberg.
West Germany