Rainer POTTEL

Decathlete Rainer Pottel had to retire at the 1980 Moskva Olympics due to an injury. At the 1978 Europeans he came in eighth. He participated in the decathlon European Cups in 1975, 1977, 1979, and 1981, winning the competition in 1981. He was East German champion in 1974, 1978 and 1981, also winning the 1981 indoor heptathlon. The educated sports teacher later became a coach for jump disciplines and decathlon. In 2010 he was named German national coach for decathlon.

In 2009, Pottel admitted doping practices within the arranged doping system in the former GDR. But he declared that he never asked any of his students to dope. He explained: “After reunification, I was one of the first to demand doping-free sport on the decathlon team”. He then signed a declaration, to never use doping in the future.

Personal Best: Dec – 8334 (1981).