Hans-Joachim Walde


Hans-Joachim Walde was a West German track and field athlete. He competed in the decathlon at the 1964, 1968 and 1972 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1964 and a silver in 1968.
Walde won national decathlon titles in 1964 and 1969, and set a world record the heptathlon in 1970. For several years he was the athlete's speaker of the German National Team. After retiring from competitions Walde became an orthopedic surgeon. He first specialized in general traumas, but then switched to sports medicine, in particular to shoulder surgery. He was a member of the German Shoulder and Elbow Society and director of sports medicine at Northwest Hospital in Frisian Sanderbusch, Lower Saxony. His son Hendrik also competed in decathlon.