Heavyweight lifter Helmut Losch finished fourth at the 1972 München Olympics just behind his greatest rival, and teammate, Stefan Grützner. Four years later he captured the bronze medal in the super-heavyweight class at Montréal. In 1971, Losch was the clean & jerk world champion. He also won two World Championship silver medals in 1973 and 1977, and a bronze in 1976. At the Europeans, he won silver in both 1973 and 1977.
By profession, Losch was an engineer in the ship construction industry at the Stralsund Dockyard. After re-unification, he worked in a studio for people with mental illness at the dockyard, until his death from a heart attack at the age of 57.
East Germany