Florian Schwarthoff

Florian Schwarthoff was a four-time Olympian from 1988-2000 and was one of the world’s best high hurdlers in that era. In 1988 in Seoul he was eliminated in the second round, but then reached the finals on the next three occasions, placing fifth in 1992 at Barcelona, winning a bronze medal at Atlanta in 1996, and he was sixth in 2000 in Sydney.

Schwarthoff’s list of palmares is long. At the World Championships between 1987 and 2000 he reached the finals in 1991 (seventh), 1993 (fifth), 1997 (fourth), and 1999 (seventh). At the World Cup he was fourth in 1994 and sixth in 2002. At the Europeans between 1990 and 2002 he won a silver medal in 1994, and was fourth in 1998 and 2002. Schwarthoff won the European Cup in 1994-97 and was runner-up in 1991, 1993, and 2001. He earned another bronze medal at the European Indoors in 1990. Domestically he won 12 German titles in the 110 hurdles between 1987 and 2002, adding another in the 1994 4x100 relay, and won four titles indoors in the 60 metre hurdles.

For his performances Schwarthoff was awarded the Tischi-Martens-Prize, the Richard Schauffele Memorial Award (both in 1987), and the Rudolf Harbig Memorial Award in 1998. He was trained as an architect, but later became steering commissioner of the German Athletics Association for high performance sport. Between 2002-10 Schwarthoff was sports chief of the annual ISTAF meeting in Berlin, but then returned to a career as an architect.

Personal Bests: 100 – 10.57 (1996); 110H – 13.05 (1995).