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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1943-12-20)20 December 1943 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 23 October 2025(2025-10-23) (aged 81) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 180 cm (5 ft 11 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Soviet Union | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Race walking | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Burevestnik Frunze | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Otto Eduardovich Barch (20 December 1943 – 23 October 2025) was a Kyrgyzrace walker who represented the Soviet Union. He competed at the1968,1972 and1976 Summer Olympics. He was also a silver medalist at the1973 IAAF World Race Walking Cup and the1974 European Athletics Championships, in addition to being a three-time Soviet champion.
Barch was born on 20 December 1943 inFrunze,Kirghiz Soviet Socialist Republic, Soviet Union.[1] His parents were Russian-Germans.[2] Barch graduated from the Frunze Polytechnic Institute, now known as theKyrgyz Technical University, and was a mechanical engineer outside of sports.[3][4] In 1963, at around age 19, he began participating inathletics.[4] He became a toprace walker and was trained by the coach Nikolai Zhilov.[2] Barch was a member of theBurevestnik Sports Society, where he was coached by B. Tarasov.[2]
He placed third in the50 kilometres race walk at the 1968Soviet Athletics Championships, earning him a place on the USSR national athletics team.[2] That year, he was selected to compete at the1968 Summer Olympics inMexico City in the20 kilometres walk.[1] Barch finished in sixth place with a time of 1:36:16.8, while the winner,Volodymyr Holubnychy, had a time of 1:33:58.4.[5] Barch won the silver medal in the 50 km race walk at the 1969, 1970, 1971, and 1972 Soviet championships.[3] He was also a participant at the1969 and1971 European Athletics Championships.[6] In 1972, he was selected to compete in the 50 km race walk at theSummer Olympics in Munich, where he placed fourth, his best Olympic finish.[2] He recorded a time of 4:01:35.4, less than a minute behind the bronze medalistLarry Young and five minutes behind gold medalistBernd Kannenberg.[7]
Barch won the silver medal at the1973 IAAF World Race Walking Cup inLugano, behind Kannenberg.[4] That year, he also won his first Soviet national championship, placing first in the 50 km race walk.[3] In 1974, he won a silver medal at the Soviet championships and also finished second at the1974 European Athletics Championships.[4] A 10-minute documentary film on his life was produced that year byKarel Abdykulov, which won awards at film festivals inOberhausen andMinsk.[2]
Barch held the title ofMaster of Sports of the USSR, International Class.[4] He won the Soviet championship in the 20 km race walk in 1975.[2] The following year, he competed at his third and finalSummer Olympics in Montreal, placing 13th in the 20 km race walk.[1] He later won his last Soviet title in 1978 in the 50 km and also competed at that year'sEuropean Championships.[2][6] Barch announced his retirement from sports in 1981, at the age of 38.[8] He later moved to Germany after the fall of the Soviet Union.[2]
Barch died on 23 October 2025, at the age of 81.[1][9]Sport.kg said after his death that "The lasting legacy Otto Barch left in the history of Kyrgyz sports will forever remain in the people's memory."[2]
