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| Born | (1913-11-08)8 November 1913 Dresden,Saxony,German Empire | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 5 March 1944(1944-03-05) (aged 30) Olkhovets,Zvenyhorodka Raion,Soviet Union (nowUkraine) | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Club | Dresdner SC Eintracht Braunschweig | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Rudolf Waldemar Harbig (8 November 1913 – 5 March 1944) was a Germanathlete. As amiddle distance runner he was best known for the800 metresworld record that he set inMilan in 1939. He also held theEuropean record in the400 metres from 1939 until 1955.
Harbig was born inDresden, the son of a stoker. From an early age, he joined local sports clubs as an amateur runner and handball player. Having finished school, he began an apprenticeship as awheelwright but did not obtain an employment due to theGreat Depression. Instead he set out for hisjourneyman years traveling throughout Germany. Back in Dresden, to make a living, he joined theReichswehr armed forces in 1932.
Harbig, as a professional soldier, continued to participate in track events. On 24 June 1934, he competed in an 800 metres event at theDresdner SC stadium, won, and was asked to join the preparations for the1936 Summer Olympics inBerlin. He began a comprehensiveinterval training supervised by theDresdner SC officials and athletics coachJosef Waitzer. In summer 1935 he left the military to concentrate on his sporting career, while he still had to take on part-time jobs to earn money.
In July 1936, Harbig won the 800 metres final at theGerman Athletics Championships at theMommsenstadion inBerlin, ahead of his toughest rivalWolfgang Dessecker, and obtained the permission to start at the Summer Olympics in August. After three weeks of intensive training, he fell ill with a gastrointestinal infections. So weakened, he arrived in the BerlinOlympiastadion and took a disappointing sixth place in the first heat of the800 metres, defeated by Canadian OlympianPhil Edwards. Contrary to some official's concerns, he nevertheless stood as a member of the German4 × 400 metres relay team, together withFriedrich von Stülpnagel,Helmut Hamann, andHarry Voigt. They established themselves in the preliminaries and won the bronze medal in thefinals on August 9. Harbig was the final runner, closely followed by Canadian athleteJohn Loaring.
On 1 May 1937 Harbig joined theNazi Party, he also held the rank of aSturmmann of theSA paramilitary forces. He regularly participated in the Party'sStruggle Games during theNuremberg Rallies and voluntarily served thepropaganda purposes of Nazi sports officialKarl Ritter von Halt. This was coupled with his ultimate rise to the top of German athletics, moving from victory to victory. In July he won the 800 metres at the German Athletics Championships for the second time, equalling the eleven-year-old German record ofOtto Peltzer, and one week later made another German best time in the 400 metres at the Berlin Olympiastadion.
One year later Harbig won the 400 metres at theISTAF Berlin and again the 800 metres at the German Championships at theHermann–Göring–Stadion inBreslau. On September 4 he defeated his long-time rivalMario Lanzi fromItaly at the1938 European Championships in Athletics inParis over 800 m in a time of 1:50.6 min. At the same championships he won the gold medal with the German 4x400 m relay team.
In the same summer theBritish runnerSydney Wooderson had set a remarkable new world record over 800 m at 1:48.4 min. When, in 1939, Harbig set a new national record of 1:49.4 he knew that the world record was not an unrealistic prospect. However, in the same season, Mario Lanzi ran a time of 1:49.5 inPisa. The two rivals met in Milan in July for a much-celebrated race over 800 m on a 500 m-track. In his usual manner Lanzi took the lead and was still in front on the final bend. However, at the start of the 125 m-home-straight Harbig overtook him with an astonishing sprint. He finished with a new world record of 1:46.6 min. Lanzi, behind him, set a new Italian record of 1:49.0.
In the following years Harbig's time turned out to be a very hard record to break. Even track legendsArthur Wint andMal Whitfield could not threaten it. Not until August 1955 theBelgian runnerRoger Moens could set a new world record of 1:45.7. Also, in 1939 Harbig set aworld record over 400 m on a 500 m-track inFrankfurt in 46.0 sec. In Dresden in 1941 he set a world record over 1000 m in 2:21.5.
Harbig's career declined upon the outbreak ofWorld War II in September 1939, whereafter he lost many of his training possibilities. Urged by Nazi officialHans von Tschammer und Osten andGuido von Mengden, Harbig joined theWehrmacht forces in occupied Poland, while he still prepared for the1940 Summer Olympics. In the winter of 1940-41 he was drafted to theFallschirmjäger (paratrooper) forces at theBroitzem airbase inBraunschweig. On 24 May 1941 he set another world record over 800 metres at theIlgen-Kampfbahn in Dresden.
Later in 1941, Harbig was sent to theEastern Front and fought in theBattle of Moscow. During the SovietDnieper–Carpathian Offensive against the WehrmachtArmy Group South, he was killed fighting with the2nd Parachute Division at theVoronezh Front nearKirovohrad,Ukraine in 1944.[1] Holding the rank ofFeldwebel (Sergeant) at the time, he served inFallschirmjäger-Regiment 6 under the command ofHauptmann (Captain)Friedrich August von der Heydte as a platoon leader. The exact circumstances of his death are not known.
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| Preceded by | Men's 800 metres World Record Holder 15 June 1939 – 3 August 1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Record Holder Men's 400m 12 August 1939 - 24 June 1955 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | European Record Holder Men's 800m 17 July 1939 - 3 August 1955 | Succeeded by |
European Athletics Championships champions in men's800 metres | |
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