Rüdiger Neitzel was on the West German handball squad at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics that won the silver medal after losing 18-17 in the final to Yugoslavia. Therefore, all players were awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award. Neitzel won 124 international caps and scored 334 goals.
Domestically, Neitzel played with VfL Gummersbach and TSV Milbertshofen in the Bundesliga scoring 1,122 goals in 265 matches. He helped Gummersbach to win the German Championship in 1985 and 1988 and the DHB Cup in 1985, and also with Milbertshofen in 1991. He also won the European Cup Winners’ Cup with Milbertshofen in 1992. Neitzel studied medicine in Köln, before becoming a specialist in orthopedics and sports medicine, based in München.
West Germany