Werner Lampe

West German swimmer Werner Lampe was the brother of Hans Lampe and the father of Oliver Lampe, who were also Olympic swimmers. Werner Lampe reached the finals at the 1972 München Olympics in the 200 and 400 m freestyle, winning the bronze medal in the 200 m. He also came sixth in the 4x100 m freestyle relay, but was a silver-medalist with the 4x200 m freestyle relay squad. At Montréal in 1976, he was again a member of the 4x200 m freestyle relay team, but finished an unfortunate fourth, only 16/100 behind Great Britain. Individually, he was eliminated in the heats of both the 200 and the 400 m freestyle.

His greatest moments came at the 1970 Barcelona and 1974 Vienna European Championships, when he won gold on both occasions in the 4x200 m freestyle relay. He also won the silver medal in the 1,500 m freestyle in 1970. At the World Championships, he added another relay gold medal in 1975, and a bronze in 1973. Between 1969-76 he won 18 national freestyle titles at 200 m (1969-71, 1973), 400 m (1969-76) and 1,500 m (1969-71, 1973, 1975-76)

Werner Lampe was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf in 1970, the highest sports award in Germany. From 1995-97 he was a board member of the German Swimming Federation, but retired due to personal differences. He became an entrepreneur and owned several MacDonald’s franchises around Hannover. Beside this, he graduated in philosophy, and worked as a motivational speaker.