- Jürgen May
Jürgen May (born
18 June 1942 inNordhausen ,Thuringia ) is a former middle-distance runner, who was a successful athlete andOlympic Games competitor, who escaped from the GDR to continue his career in the FRG.uccesses in the GDR
*1964: Qualified as a GDR representative for the all-German team at the Olympic Games in
Tokyo ; however, the teams split in Semi-final of the 1500m.
*1965: Jürgen May obtained four records in only a few weeks::European record in the 1500m: 3:36.4 min. on 14 July inErfurt :World record in the 1000m: 2:16.2 min. on 20 July in Erfurt :GDR record in the 800m: 1:46.3 min. on 25 August inPotsdam :GDR record in the one mile run: 3:56.0 min. on 30 August inLondon
*1965: Jürgen May was nominated as GDR sportsman of the year. (GDR statistics show that he came runner-up toPeter Ducke )Lifelong ban in the GDR
During the 1966 European Athletics Championships in
Budapest , Jürgen May, on behalf of a footwear company, bribed teammate Jürgen Haase to wear the company's trainers in the10,000 metres final. A rival firm in West Germany found out about the incident and made the details public. As punishment, Jürgen was given a lifelong ban from participating on behalf of the GDR. He also lost his job as an unpaid employee at theErfurt newspaper "Das Volk ", and therefore had to work from then on as a sports teacher.New start in the FRG
In 1967 Jürgen took advantage of an offer to move to West Germany, where he was able to continue his career as a sportsman. He was selected by the German Athletics Federation for the 1969 European Championships. However, the team boycotted the European Championships and participated only symbolically in the relay competitions.
Jürgen May did not succeed in obtaining a foothold in international competitions again. In 1970 in
Stockholm he pulled out of the European Cup final at short notice due to a tooth operation. He pulled out of the 1971 European Championships inHelsinki in advance. He also pulled out of the 1972 Olympic Games inMunich in advance; after this he retired from competitive sport. He later worked as a civil servant inMain-Kinzig-Kreis .Jürgen May is 1.74 m tall and had a match weight of 68 kg.
References
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