Karl-Heinz Henrichs

Karl-Heinz Henrichs won a gold medal at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics with the German pursuit team. beating Italy by a very close margin of .07 seconds. At the finish it was impossible to tell who had won, and the jury conferenced for 10 minutes before announcing that Germany was the gold medalist. All four track cyclists came from West Germany. After winning the Olympic gold medal the team was honored with the Silver Bay Leaf, the highest sports award in Germany.

In 1968, Henrichs returned and reached the final against Denmark in the same event, by then representing West Germany at Mexico City. West Germany always led and the race looked over when, after 9 of 12 laps, a Danish rider went off the back, however, they re-grouped although they still trailed on the bell lap. The German team then began to split, with Jürgen Kissner dropping off the pace. As his teammate Henrichs passed him, Kissner’s hand appeared to touch him, possibly giving him a slight push. Germany held on to win by 3½ seconds, but Kissner was an East German defector and East Germany immediately protested that the touch had been an illegal shove. After a 15-minute conference among the judges, West Germany was disqualified, and Italy and the Soviet Union were announced as the silver and bronze medal winners. FRG officials then protested, stating that Italy and the Soviets should not be placed ahead of their riders. Another long conference ensued, and the result was announced as Denmark 1st and Italy 3rd. No silver medal placement was given until a meeting of the Fédération Internationale Amateur de Cyclisme (FIAC, later the UCI) in November, when West Germany was awarded second place and the silver medals.

Henrichs won more silvers both at the 1963 and the 1966 World Championships, and also a bronze in 1967. Domestically he won West German titles three times consecutively, from 1965-67.