"Thing must fly"

Munich Olympic hero dies at the age of 78

Klaus Wolfermann

(Bild: screenshot/youtube)

Klaus Wolfermann, legendary javelin throw Olympic champion from Munich 1972, died this Wednesday at the age of 78. 

Dear Klaus, rest in peace! Even as a young journalist, I was able to watch his historic competition in Munich's Olympic Stadium. I still have the dramatic competition clearly in my mind's eye today. And one image in particular is etched in my memory, an image that went around the world ...

Klaus Wolfermann and Janis Lusis were in each other's arms after the sensational javelin throw duel. Here the German, there the Latvian, who was competing for the Soviet Union. "I think it was this deep embrace that showed people that we athletes appreciate each other across all political systems," Klaus Wolfermann told me during our last interview, which I conducted with him three years ago for "World Athletics Heritage". During this embrace, the German also uttered the legendary, heartfelt phrase: "Sorry I won!"

Klaus Wolfermann had beaten his role model, the heavy favorite, by two centimeters - 90.48 m to 90.46 m. "Janis was a gold tip, as sure as the Bank of England!" Klaus Wolfermann remembers every nuance of this sensation. He didn't know how many times he had told this story. It probably felt like 100,000 times.

On the afternoon of Sunday, September 3, 1972, his javelin flew through the air for 4.2 seconds on his fifth attempt in Munich's Olympic Stadium. Klaus Wolfermann had said to himself beforehand: "Go for it, this thing has to fly!" He had risked everything, lengthened his run-up a little, increased his speed slightly and, according to the analysis by Austrian Michael Strudler, the launch angle was just under 40 degrees. When the javelin was still sailing, Klaus Wolfermann knew immediately that the throw was "far, extremely far". He had, as they say, "hit the 800 gram javelin dead on".

When his javelin landed beyond the 90 m mark, the 80,000 spectators turned the arena into a madhouse. Wolfermann started jumping for joy. 90.48 m lit up on the scoreboard. That was the lead! Until then, Janis Lusis had always been in the lead with 88.88 m in his first attempt and 89.54 m in his third attempt. "But there was still the sixth round! I knew that Lusis was in top form, as he had thrown a world record of 93.80 m before Munich, he was a model of concentration, a man with good nerves and had also won gold in Mexico in 1968 on his last attempt. I was curious to see if he could counter again!" Janis Lusis started, but made a small technical mistake on the last step. His javelin landed at 90.46 m.

Klaus Wolfermann was the Olympic champion! "My goal was actually just to win a medal. But now I had suddenly beaten the strong, the almighty javelin thrower, my great role model."

The golden Sunday
Unbelievable scenes unfolded that afternoon in the Olympic Stadium. Unforgettable for all those who were there live at the time. It was the "golden Sunday" of German athletics. Three gold medals in one and a half hours. Victories for Hildegard Falck (800 m), Bernd Kannenberg (50 km walk) and Klaus Wolfermann, plus pentathlon silver for Heide Rosendahl.

"I was just glad that there was already digital distance measurement back then! Two centimeters is nothing. If it had been measured with a tape measure, who knows if it would have been so accurate if there was a small bump on the grass," said Klaus Wolfermann, who has the competition record from 1972 at home. The difference was 2 centimetres and 6 millimetres.

Wolfermann, who had already competed in the 1968 Olympics in Mexico, where he was eliminated in the qualifying round, had thrown over 90 m for the first time at a test meeting in Munich ten days before the Games. He knew that his form was right. Which he proved impressively in the qualification on September 2nd. At half past ten in the morning, the arena was already packed with 80,000 spectators. Munich celebrated athletics, the queen of sport, day after day. In his very first attempt, he clearly surpassed the required standard of 80.00 m for the final with 86.22 m. That's the way it should be! "Qualifying can lead to psychological anxiety." But not for Wolfermann on this day. "I got up very early in the morning, did gymnastics and then had breakfast!" He didn't waste any energy in qualifying, saving his strength for the final of the twelve best. Which paid off the next day in the centimetre duel.

Instant fame
The gold throw with this minimal lead made him instantly famous, and the following day, during a visit to the Olympic swimming competitions, he was placed in the VIP stand between US actor Kirk Douglas and the Greek King Constantine, himself an Olympic sailing champion. The legendary competition also welded Janis Lusis (who also came third at the 1964 Olympics) and Wolfermann together, and the two formed a close friendship across the Iron Curtain. "Janis visited me again and again, even as a surprise guest on my 60th birthday!" Klaus Wolfermann and Janis Lusis regularly drove back to the Olympic Stadium, the site of the legendary duel, looked out over the stadium with the tent roof from the revolving restaurant of the Olympic Tower while eating, and refreshed their memories. Since Janis Lusis' death in April 2020, Klaus Wolfermann has kept in touch with his son Voldemars, an Olympic javelin thrower in 2000 and 2004. A friendship that has lasted for generations.

The 1.76 m tall Klaus Wolfermann, celebrated in the German media as "the little giant with the golden arm", celebrated his gold in the fall of 1972 to the fullest at invitations and parties. "In January 1973, however, I got a guilty conscience, then I trained hard and obsessively again, with full commitment!" His coach impressed upon him that the successes could continue. "Wait and see, you're relaxed now as an Olympic champion. You can make the most of your potential." He certainly made the most of it. He felt his top form before the first competition in the spring. "Two days before the meeting, I threw the women's javelin 120 m at the final training session. That looked good," Wolfermann laughed as he reminisced. He then threw a world record 94.08 m on his second attempt in Leverkusen on May 5, 1973. In doing so, he also replaced Janis Lusis as the world record holder, who had thrown 93.80 m in Stockholm the year before.

Javelin throwing had (also) become popular in Germany at the time. According to Klaus Wolfermann, spectators were enthusiastic about this sport, which has a long tradition and was originally just a form of hunting. Without wanting to devalue any other discipline in the slightest, the fascination lies in the elegance, the wonderfully long flight of the javelin that can be observed, the easily and immediately visible distance of the throw. A fascination that he himself had felt in the Scandinavian countries in his early days as a thrower. "Meetings in Sweden and Finland were always part of my competition planning. We always asked ourselves what they do differently to us in the north!" At some point, he and his coach found the solution. A small piece of the mosaic in this dominance is that the children watch javelin throwing on TV all the time, as they do in Finland, and come into contact with throwing themselves at an early age: "Even if it's just throwing stones into the sea!"

For him, the initial spark was a different one. After doing gymnastics as a boy ("My father was a gymnast!"), he took up handball. At the age of 14, he realized what a tremendously sharp throw he had. What power he had in his arm. He also saw this when throwing a long ball, when his ball flew over 100 meters. Then he tried it with a wooden javelin. Finnish birch, which flew 45 meters. The birth of the later Olympic javelin champion.