Klaus Köste

Klaus Köste won a bronze at the 1970 World Championships on the horizontal bar and won the 1971 and 1973 European Championships on the same apparatus. He started for the combined German team in 1964 and for the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1968 and 1972. Köste started his career at the age of six in his hometown of Frankfurt (Oder) but later moved to Leipzig. In 1972 he earned the Vaterländische Verdienstorden (Patriotic Order of Merit) of the GDR in gold. In 1974 he had to retire due to a tear of his Achilles tendon. With his 34 national titles he was one of the most successful German gymnasts ever.

Köste then studied sports at the Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur (DHfK) at Leipzig and became a trainer and high school teacher. From 1974-76 he was GDR national women’s coach and from 1976-85 was the chief trainer at SC Leipzig. He also taught sports at DHfK Leipzig during that time. From 1998-2002 he was one of the assistants to cycling legend Gustav-Adolf Schur when he was elected to the German Bundestag for the left-wing party PDS, and Köste was also active with the German Gymnastics Association from 2001-04. He died from a heart attack in 2012.