Matthias Behr

Matthias Behr is a West German foil fencer who won one Olympic gold medal and three Olympic silver medals across three Games. Born on 1 April 1955 in Tauberbischofsheim, he fenced for the club FC Tauberbischofsheim and competed at the 1976, 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics; the 1980 Games were closed to him by the boycott of Western countries. He was part of the West German foil team that took gold in 1976 and silver in 1984 and 1988, and he also won individual foil silver in 1984. At the World Championships he collected three golds, four silvers and two bronzes, all with the foil team, plus an individual silver in 1987. He won the West German individual foil title in 1973 and 1985 and received the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany's highest sports award. His name is also tied to the 1982 World Championships in Rome, where his blade broke during a bout with the Soviet fencer Volodymyr Smyrnov, who died of the injury, an accident that led to stronger blades and safer vests.