Stefan Burkart

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Stefan Burkart (9 December 1957 – 3 May 2020) was a Swiss

Swiss records
for the events.

He competed for Switzerland at the

Summer Olympics in 1992 and 1996 – at the latter edition he became the oldest ever sprinter to compete in the men's 100 metres at the Olympics. He represented his country at the European Athletics Championships on three occasions (1982, 1990 and 1994) and also ran at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics. He had his best international performances indoors, reaching the semi-finals at the 1985 IAAF World Indoor Games and at the 1986 European Athletics Indoor Championships
(in his career he raced twice more at the latter competition).

In the mid-1990s he moved towards

Winter Olympics medals: Thomas Lamparter, Martin Annen, and Gregor Stähli
.

Biography

Early life

Burkart became interested in track and field upon seeing the 1968 Mexico Olympics on television when he was a child. A recreational drug user in his youth, he travelled widely in his early twenties and converted to Scientology after visiting one of their academies in Sacramento, California. Following his conversion he returned to Switzerland and renewed his focus on sprinting. He made his first international appearance for his country at an indoor international match against Sweden in 1981.[1]

Sprint career

He claimed his first Swiss national title in 1982, sharing the 100 m title with the more established

Helen Barnett, a fellow sprinter and British Olympian.[1]

Burkart missed the opportunity to run at the

Swiss national record of 10.32 seconds as well as a 200 metres best of 20.76 seconds. This earned him his Olympic debut at the age of 34 and he was a quarter-finalist in both the sprints.[6] He qualified for the 1993 World Championships in Athletics the following year, but did not start due to injury.[citation needed
]

Burkart reached the quarter-finals of the 100 m at the

European Veterans Athletics Championships.[9]

Bobsled and coaching career

Burkart was approached by Swiss bobsledder

Bobsleigh European Championship and Bobsleigh World Cup from 1998 to 2002.[1]

Burkart soon began to focus on training younger bobsledders and athletes in the late 1990s with Fredi Steinmann. Among his training group were Olympic bobsleigh bronze medallists Thomas Lamparter and Martin Annen, as well as skeleton specialist and Olympic medallist Gregor Stähli. Burkart also coached Daniel Dubois and Andreas Baumann, both of whom represented Switzerland in the indoor 60 m sprint which had been Burkart's speciality.[1]

Personal life

Brukart was married to Helen Barnett, who represented Great Britain at the 1984 Olympics and Switzerland at the 1992 Olympics. Their son Nishan Burkart is a footballer and a youth international with the Switzerland national under-20 football team. Stefan Burkart died in 2020 after a long illness.[10]

Competition record

National titles
  • 60 metres (indoors): 1985–1992, 1995–1996 (10)[4]
  • 100 metres (outdoors): 1982, 1985–1990, 1995–1996 (9)[2]

Personal bests

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Stefan Burkart Geschichte (in German). Stefan Burkart Official website. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  2. ^ a b c Swiss Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  3. ^ a b c d Stefan Burkart. Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  4. ^ a b c Swiss Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  5. ^ European Cup B Final and First League. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  6. ^ a b Stefan Burkart. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  7. ^ Stefan Burkart. IAAF. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  8. ^ European Cup C Final and Second League. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  9. ^ European Veterans Championships (Men). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2014-02-01.
  10. ^ "Ex-Sprinter Stefan Burkart im Alter von 62 Jahren verstorben". Nau (in German). Retrieved 5 May 2020.

External links

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