Matthias Behr

Foil fencer Matthias Behr, brother of Reinhold Behr and later husband of his teammate Zita Funkenhauser, won one Olympic gold and three silvers at three Olympic Games – 1976, 1984, and 1988. In 1980 he could not compete due to the US-led boycott by the Western countries. Behr earned team gold in 1976, and team silvers in 1984 and 1988. Additionally, he won silver in 1984 in the individual foil event. He won three gold, four silvers and two bronzes at the World Championships, all with the West German foil teams, adding a 1987 silver in the individual event.

In 1973 and 1985 Behr won the West German nationals in the individual foil and, in all, he won 10 team golds with his home club FC Tauberbischofsheim. Behr was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award, for his successes.

At the 1982 Worlds in Roma his match with Volodymyr Smyrnov (Soviet Union), the reigning World Champion, made international news, when a fatal accident happened. Behr’s blade broke and critically injured Smirnov, entering his skull, and Smirnov fell into a coma and died nine days later. This event led to increased safety measures in fencing in the following years. Among other things, the shatter-proof blade and more stable safety vests were introduced.

Behr tried several times over the years to contact the widow Emma Smirnova, without receiving an answer. In 2016, the filmmaker Michael Dittrich managed to establish this contact, and he filmed the documentation of Matthias Behr for the Südwestrundfunk Dreams and Trauma of a Foil Fencer. On 13 September 2017, Behr and Emma Smirnova appeared together on Markus Lanz’s famous talk show and discussed the tragic events of 1982.

By profession, Behr became manager of the college of the Regional Olympic Center at Tauberbischofsheim. He also became successor of coaching legend Emil Beck as team lead of the West German Fencing National Team for a brief stint.