Rainer Poser

Rainer Poser was East German boxing champion as a bantamweight in 1963, 1964 and 1966, and then as a featherweight in 1967-68. At the 1963 Europeans he won a bronze medal and in 1965 he lost his quarter-final bout against Romanian Nicolae Gîju. In 1964 he won the inter-national qualifications against West German non-Olympian Günter Geisler and qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, losing a narrow first round decision, 3-2, against Poland’s Brunon Bendig.

Poser was then criticized by East German officials as he did not win a medal in Tokyo nor at the 1965 Europeans. He was forced to increase his training time and to sign an agreement pledging to do so, but refused to sign and was immediately thrown off the national team. Surprisingly, he still went on to win East German titles in 1967-68.