Urs von Wartburg

Urs von Wartburg ( born March 1, 1937) is a Swiss athlete who was around 30 years active as a javelin thrower.

Between 1957 and 1980 he won no less than 26 national championships, 22 in the javelin, three (1958, 1961 and 1963 ) in the pentathlon, a decathlon.

He represented his country at five Olympic Games and three European Championships, with his best finish was fifth place with 78.72 meters at the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 1964. Four years later at the Olympic Summer Games 1968 in Mexico City, he surpassed the 80 -meter mark ( 80.56 m), but this performance was only enough for eighth place. In 1972, he missed the finals with 76.55 m only just. With the Summer Olympic Games in Montreal in 1976 he succeeded not a valid test.

His greatest successes come Urs von Wartburg when participating in World and European Veterans Championships, where he won a total of nine gold medals in the age groups M40, M45 and M50.

In 1965 he was elected Athlete of the Year. In the 1972 Olympics he was flag - bearer of the Swiss delegation.

Gold Medals

• World Cup 1977 in Gothenburg: 78.66 m ( M40)
• EM 1978 in Viareggio: 74.14 m ( M40)
• World Cup 1979 in Hannover: 78.98 m ( M40)
• World Cup 1981 in Christchurch: 74.06 m ( M40)
• EM 1984 Brighton: 64.32 m ( M45 )
• World Cup 1985 in Rome: 66.14 m ( M45 )
• World Cup 1987 in Melbourne: 60.36 m (M50 )
• EM 1988 in Verona: 59.24 m (M50 )

Personal Best

• Javelin, javelin age: 82,75 m, August 1965 in Olten ( CH) in stadium inauguration. On 20 June 1965, he excelled in Warsaw with 81.62 m for the first time the 80 - meter mark. This distance remained until its replacement by the new Speer in 1986 as a Swiss record exist.