Career
Born in Amt Neuhaus, now in Niedersachsen, Schult was unable to compete in the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles due to his country"s boycott of the games. He set a world record in the discus in 1986. As an athlete under the East German program, his throw of 74.08 meters (2430 ft) bested the previous record of Soviet athlete, Yuriy Dumchev, by 2.22 meters (73 ft).
This discus world record still stands today and is the longest-standing men"s world record ever (having surpassed the length of Jesse Owens"s long jump record, which stood for 25 years and 79 days).
In 1988, at the first track and field competition ever between East and West Germany, Schult refused to shake hands with the man who had beaten him, Wolfgang Schmidt, who had very shortly before moved from East to West Germany. Later in his long sport career Schult joined the reunified German team
He competed in a second Olympic Games in 1992, getting a silver medal, and the 1999 World Championships, again getting second place. He competed in his final Olympics in 2000 at the age of 40, finishing in 8th place.
Schult has a degree in sport and in 2002 became the trainer of the German track and field association"s men"s discus team
Schult represented the Traktor Schwerin sport club and trained with Doctor Hermann Brandt, later he represented the Schwerin and Riesa sport clubs and trained with Thomas Schult. While he was actively competing he was 1.93 meters tall and weighed 110 kilograms.
