Philipp FÜRST

Phillip Fürst was the most successful West German gymnast of the early 1960s. The highlight of his career was winning a bronze medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, with the Unified German squad in the team competition. Additionally he won two bronze medals at the 1959 European Championships in the individual all-around and on pommelled horse and in 1961 was runner-up at the Europeans on pommelled horse. He won three national championships with the team, and 18 individual national titles in the all-around, parallel bars, pommelled horse, rings and horizontal bar.

After his retirement he became national coach and trained West German gymnasts for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, as well as other competitions. After winning the Olympic bronze medal in 1964 he was also awarded the Silver Laurel Leaf, the highest national award in Germany in the field of sport.