Arnd Krüger

Arnd Krüger (born July 1, 1944) is a German professor of sport studies. Krüger earned his BA (English major) from UCLA in 1967 and his PhD from the University of Cologne (Modern and Medieval History) in Germany in 1971. He attended UCLA on a track scholarship, was 10 times German champion, and represented West Germany at the 1968 Summer Olympics in the 1500 metres run, where he reached the semi-final.

After completing the PhD, Krüger worked for the German Sports Federation (1971–74), and the Berlin Teachers' Training College (1974–78) and taught part-time at the German National Coaching Academy. He was Associate Professor for Coaching and Movement Sciences at the University of Hamburg (1978–80) and then became full professor for Sport Studies and Chair of the Physical Education Department at the University of Göttingen and was head of the Society and Training Section. He has served several times as Dean of the School of Social Sciences in Göttingen.

Krüger was the founding president of the European committee for sports history (1995–97).[1] and has been the President of the Niedersächsisches Institut für Sportgeschichte (Lower Saxony Institute for Sport History). since 2000. He is the author/editor of more than 40 books and has been published in 15 languages.

Krüger gained international notoriety in 2008 when he told an academic conference that the eleven Israeli Olympic athletes killed by Palestinian terrorists in an event known as the Munich massacre had effectively decided to commit suicide by allowing themselves to be killed, as they knew from the Israeli press that they were in serious danger.

The German Sports Sciences Association dubbed Krüger's remarks "unfortunate," and said the disciplinary board will convene to discuss the case. He later was reprimanded, but not excluded, as he was clearely not an anti-semite

The ombudsman-commission of his university in charge of the case (under the chairmanship of a Law Professor, with qualifications of a high court judge) heard witnesses and acquitted him. He was honored by an international Festschrift at the occasion of his 65th birthday (2009).

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