Career
Between 15 September 1959 and 6 September 1960 he set four European records in 400 metres, reducing the time down to 44.9 s, which remained the record until the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City. The finish line picture of Kaufmann"s desperate lunge to try to capture the gold has been shown in many track and field publications. Both Kaufmann and Davis set a new world record time at 44.9 s and became the first athletes to run the 400 m with 45 seconds.
After retiring from competitions Kaufmann was running an amateur theatre in Karlsruhe, where he died aged 72.