The previous post on the passing of Otis Davis, Olympic 400 champion and world record holder brought to our attention that the man who came in second in that race, with an almost identical time, Carl Kaufmann, running for the combined East and West German teams was actually born in the USA and sang opera later in life. Most of us remember that photo of the finish and Kaufmann reaching in vain for the tape but his chest a frog hair behind Davis. It even looks as if his foot was over the line but that could be photographic deception and is not allowed by the rules in determining winners of races.
Anyway it looks as if Herr Kaufmann was born in Brooklyn, New York. The fact that his first name is spelled with a C rather than a K might be a giveaway that his family was in the process of americanizing in 1936. But just prior to the outbreak of WWII he and family were visiting or gone back to Germany and thus spent the war years and the rest of his life in Karlsruhe, West Germany. In his adult years he got into opera both as an impressario and as a singer having owned an opera house in his adopted hometown of Karlsruhe and as a performer. I do not know if he got into singing Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the USA".
Carl died relatively early at age 72 in 2008.
World Athletics has this info:
Carl (Charly) Kaufmann (GER) born 25 Mar 1936 Brooklyn, New York, died on 1 September 2008 at the age of 72.
Kaufmann had his greatest day in the Olympic 400m final in Rome 1960 when he won the silver medal, producing a sensational finish to come from behind the American Otis Davis (32.6 to 33.3) at 300m to almost catch him on the line, both men being given a hand time of 44.9 to smash the four year-old World record of 45.2. The auto-timing showed that Davis had won 45.07 to 45.08.
Mal Spence, South Africa 3rd, Otis Davis USA 1st, Earl Young USA 6th, Carl Kaufmann Ger 2nd and
does not look like the fastest of tracks with a lot of spike marks already on it.
Kaufmann then won a silver medal at 4x400m, running a 44.86 anchor leg.
After the Games Davis and Kaufmann tied in Cologne and Kaufmann won in Wuppertal but Kaufmann did not better 46.6 after that year.
Kaufmann had begun to concentrate on 400m from 1958, when he was 4th in the Europeans (and 2nd at 4x400m) and had a best of 46.9. He ran a European record 45.8 on 19 Sep 1959 in Cologne and improved that to 45.7 on 15 Jun 1960 and to 45.4 to win the German title in Berlin on 24 Jul 1960. He also won German titles at 200m 1955 and 400m 1958-9. pbs: 100m 10.5 (1955), 200m 20.9 (1960), and became a famous opera tenor, actor and theatre director.
Peter Matthews and Mel Watman - Athletics International - for the IAAF
I'm reminded that Kaufmann was not the only Olympic medallist who became a performer in the arts. Micheline Ostermeyer of France won three medals in the 1948 Olympics in the Shot Put, Discus, and High Jump and then became a concert pianist. George
And Martin Lauer West German WR holder in 110HH at 13.2 had almost 40 hits in Country and Western music singing in German. Not sure he made it to Nashville however.
Thank you George,
In the summer of 1972, my parents gave my wife Debby and me a belated honeymoon present by taking us to Europe, including a stop in Rome. While in Rome, I remembered the 1960 Olympics and my dad and I drove out to the Olympic stadium. Surprisingly, the gates to the track were wide open! I walked down to the track; it had a reddish, all-weather Tartan surface instead of the cinder track from 1960. I took off for a lap around the track and visualized that I was running on the same site as Otis Davis in 1960 when he won his gold medal. It was a breathtakingly beautiful memory.
Sincerely,
Bruce Geelhoed
Muncie, IN
12:12 PM (3 hours ago) |  |
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