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thomas munkelt

thomas munkelt -lrb- born 3 august 1952 -rrb- was an east german athlete , winner of 110 m hurdles at the 1980 summer olympics .
born in zedtletz , east germany , thomas munkelt was a classic high hurdler who dominated european hurdling in the 1970s and early 1980s .
munkelt was the first athlete to break the 7.50 seconds barrier in the 60m hurdles , when he ran a 7.48 seconds world record in budapest in 1983 .
munkelt came into the international athletics scene in 1975 when he won his first of nine east german national championship title and european cup in 110 m hurdles .
although he finished disappointing fifth at the 1976 summer olympics , he won both world cup and european cup in 1977 .
the first international championships medal came , when munkelt finished first at the 1978 european championships .
munkelt 's career highlight came at the moscow olympics , where he beat second placed alejandro casañas from cuba by 0.01 seconds .
he also was a member of fifth placed 4x100 m relay team .
he defended his title successfully at the 1982 european championships and won silver as a member of a 4x100 relay team .
he won again the european cup in the next year , but finished only fifth at the first world championships .
after hearing the east german government 's decision to boycott the 1984 summer olympics , munkelt decided to retire from athletics .
his personal best was 13,37 seconds , achieved in august 1977 in helsinki .
this ranks him seventh among german 110 m hurdlers , behind florian schwarthoff , mike fenner , eric kaiser , falk balzer , thomas blaschek and sven göhler .
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