Harald Norpoth was a rail thin (1.84/62 kilos - 6.1/137) German runner with a long career in the 60's and 70's, winning several medals at 1500/5000 in European and Olympic Games.
He ran times of 7:45/3000, and 13:20/5000 which were outstanding in those days.
He could finish races in around 54 seconds which was very good at the time. He was known for his strong finish. Despite his super thin build and height, he was also a skillful soccer player, with decent technique. He could have played at Division 2 German level, had he concentrated on the sport.
The native of Munster, Germany, had a very long career, and only trained once a day for his entire career, and much of the running was steady running of distances of 10-15 km in the forests near his home.
After he retired from competition, he taught physical education in local Munster, Germany schools for a period of about 30 years. Recently retired, Norpoth cannot run anymore due to bad knees, but he is still very slim and fit and rides a bike daily for exercise.
He is also an official soccer referee, like Steve Anders, another extreme ectomorph from the North West of England who ran times not much slower than Norpoth.
Norpoth always stated that he preferred soccer to running, because soccer is a 'skill game' which is intrinsically much more interesting than running.
Check out this article on Norpoth.
http://www.bunnhill.com/BobHodge/Articles/Norpoth.htm
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