Harald Norpoth

Who is Harald Norpoth?

Harald Norpoth is a West German former middle and long distance runner. Born in Münster, he won the silver medal over 5000m at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo as a member of the United Team of Germany. He had already competed in the 1962 European Athletics Championships, where he had fallen and dropped out of the 1,500-metre final. His high quality as both a 1,500-metre and a 5,000-metre runner was proved in the 1966 European Athletics Championships, where he won the bronze medal at 1,500 metres and the silver medal at 5,000 metres.

At the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico Norpoth dropped out of the 5000m and finished fourth over 1500m. He also set a 2000m world record of 4:57.8 minutes in September 1966 in Hagen, Germany. Norpoth remained an international-level 5,000-metre runner until his retirement from competitive running in 1973, because he finished third in the 1971 European Championships 5,000-metre final, losing by 1.2 seconds to the winner, Finland's Juha Väätäinen. In the 1972 Munich Summer Olympics, he finished sixth at 5,000 metres, losing by 6.2 seconds to the winner, Finland's Lasse Virén, and placing as the fourth best European.