Walter Schmidt

Hammer thrower Walter Schmidt finished fifth at the 1976 Montréal Olympic Games. He had the same finish at the 1971 European Championships and the 1970 Summer Universiade. In 1975 he won a silver medal at the Universiade. He never won a West German Championship but set two world records in 1971, with 76.40, and 1975 with 79.30.

In 1977 Schmidt was invited to a discussion about anabolic steroids on the West German TV channel ZDF for the sports program “Aktuelles Sportstudio,” in which he pleaded the case that doping should be allowed for all athletes, arguing that this would make the playing field more level, and for these statements he was banned for one year by the Hessian Athletics Association. Walter Schmidt was trained as a teacher for sports and geography.

Personal Best: HT – 79.30 (1975).