Wieland Schmidt

Goalie Wieland Schmidt, who was not related to his teammate Dietmar Schmidt, was on the gold medal winning East German team at the 1980 Moskva Olympics, winning the final after a 23-22 overtime victory against the Soviet Union. Wieland Schmidt also competed at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, but the East German team finished a disappointing seventh. He played 276 international matches with the GDR national team, and during the 1970s and 1980s was considered one of the world’s best goalies. In 1974, he won a silver medal at the Worlds and in 1978 helped the team win bronze.

Domestically, Schmidt played with SC Magdeburg and helped them win eight GDR Championships (1977, 1980-85, 1988) and the 1979 and 1981 European Cup of Champions. He was named Handball Player of the Year in 1980, 1981, and 1988. After German re-unification Schmidt moved to VfL Hameln and GWD Minden until 1993. He later turned to coaching with HC Leipzig, and by profession, he became a marketing expert at a bank.