Karlheinz Smieszek was a small-bore rifle sports shooter from West Germany. He won the gold medal in the 50 metres event at the 1976 Montréal Olympics, marginally ahead of teammate Ulrich Lind. He was subsequently awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award. By profession, Smieszek was a bank clerk and worked with a co-operative building society.
Due to the Western bloc boycott of the 1980 Moskva Games, Smieszek could not participate, but at the World Championships he won four silver medals. In 2018 he was appointed president of the Gemeinschaft Deutscher Olympiateilnehmer (Association of German Olympic Athletes).