Frank Pfütze

Frank Pfütze was a long-distance freestyle swimmer who competed in two Olympic Games, 1976 at Montréal and 1980 at Moskva. He was eliminated in the heats of the 200 and 400 freestyle in 1976, and also went out in the heats of the 400 in 1980. With the East German 4x200 freestyle relay he placed fifth in 1976, and won a silver medal in 1980. At the 1975 Cali Worlds Pfütze earned a bronze medal in the 400 freestyle. At the 1974 Vienna Europeans he won gold in the 1,500 metre freestyle and added two bronzes in 1977 in the 400 freestyle and with the 4x200 freestyle relay.

Domestically, Pfütze won the East German nationals in the 200, 400, and 1,500 metres in 1977. He died shortly after re-unification in 1991, only 32-years-old, due to congestive heart failure. By that time he was extremely overweight, and rumors persisted that these were the consequences of the state-driven doping practices in the former GDR.