Ortwin Czarnowski

Cyclist Ortwin Czarnowski finished eighth with the West German 100 km Time Trial team at the 1968 Mexico Olympics. He also participated in the road race, but did not finish. In 1966 and 1968, Czarnowski won the International Rheinland-Pfalz Rundfahrt, and in the latter year also won the “Berlin Stage Race”. He retired after the Mexican Games.

In 1960, 19-year-old Czarnowski defected to the West from the former GDR along with his mother and his brother. He moved to Heilbronn and worked as a signal technician. After his active cycling career, he studied sports and became a graduated sports teacher. Czarnowski was also engaged in establishing a cycle training center in his hometown. As a teacher, he organized so-called “rolling classrooms” with cycle trips to Berlin, and his birthplace Tempelberg.