Thomas Zacharias

His personal best is 2.22 m (world's best indoor 1971). At the West German championships, Zacharias won a single medal, the gold i 1968. At the West German indoor championships, he won silver in 1969 followed by two straight gold medals in 1970 and 1971. He represented the clubs SC Charlottenburg and USC Mainz. Zacharias continues competing internationally, in the masters categories, where he set dozens of world records. Two of them, 2.00 m indoor and 1.98 m outdoor in the M50 age group, have stood since 1997. Zacharias is a lifelong proponent of the straddle technique in the high jump. Records by Thomas Zacharias • Height (m) — Set — Broken — Age category (years) — Record • 2.17 — 30–34 — NR • 2.10 — 35–39 — NR • 2.00 — 10 September 1988 — 40–44 — NR • 1.96 — 7 October 1996 — 45–49 — NR • 2.00 — 2 March 1997 — Current — 50–54 — WR(i) • 1.84 — 25 January 2006 — 5 April 2008 — 55–59 — WR • 1.80 — 27 April 2007 — 16 August 2012 — 60–64 — WR • 1.65 — 12 March 2014 — Current — 65–69 — WR(i) (i) = indoors, WR = world record, ER = European record, NR = national record

• Name — Thomas Zacharias • Born — 2 January 1947 • Birthplace — Bad Harzburg, Germany • Height — 1.85 m • Weight — 76 kg • Sport — High jump • Club — USC Mainz • Show Medals — yes

• Illustration — Zacharias in 1970 Zacharias was born to Hella and Helmut Zacharias. His father (died 2002) was a famous violin player, composer and orchestra director, his sister Sylvia holds a PhD in social sciences, and his brother Stephan is a composer and music producer for film and television. Zacharias has a son, Alejandro, and daughter Cristina, with Lola López, a sports teacher. Zacharias completed his school studies in Hamburg (Germany), Genoa (Italy) and Ascona (Switzerland). He continued his education in Paris, Berlin and Mainz, studying philosophy and psychology, but majoring in physical education, and since the 1980s has lived on Lanzarote, one of the Canary Islands. In the 2000s, besides competing in the high jump and being a track and field coach, he became a specialist in golf biomechanics and tuition and published two books on the subject. In 1999–2002 he worked as a psychologist with the national golf amateur team and in 2002-2008 was instruction advisor to the PGA of Germany.