Volker Beck (athlete)

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Men's Athletics
Olympic medal record
Gold	1980 Moscow	400m hurdles
Silver	1980 Moscow	4x400m relay

Volker Beck (born June 30, 1956 in Nordhausen, Thuringia) is a former East German athlete, winner of 400 m hurdles at the 1980 Summer Olympics.

With the best 400 m hurdler in the late 1970s and early 1980s Edwin Moses missing due the boycott, the best chance of winning the Olympic gold had Volker Beck, the East German 400 m hurdles champion in 1980, 1981 and 1983.

In Moscow, Beck won the 400 m hurdles easily, beating second-placed Vasili Arkhipenko from Soviet Union by 0.16 seconds, although it was the slowest Olympic final since 1964. Beck won his second Olympic medal in 4x400 m relay, when he was beaten to a second place by Soviet anchor Viktor Markin.

After his athletics career, Beck started to work as a coach, among other things he was a coach of German National Team.

Olympic champions in men's 400 m hurdles
1900: John Tewksbury \| 1904: Harry Hillman \| 1908: Charles Bacon \| 1920: Frank Loomis \| 1924: Morgan Taylor \| 1928: David Burghley \| 1932: Bob Tisdall \| 1936: Glenn Hardin \| 1948: Roy Cochran \| 1952: Charles Moore \| 1956: Glenn Davis \| 1960: Glenn Davis \| 1964: Rex Cawley \| 1968: David Hemery \| 1972: John Akii-Bua \| 1976 Edwin Moses \| 1980 Volker Beck \| 1984: Edwin Moses \| 1988: André Phillips \| 1992: Kevin Young \| 1996: Derrick Adkins \| 2000: Angelo Taylor \| 2004: Felix Sanchez

Olympic champions in men's 400 m hurdles