1984
In 1984, the company logo was modernized once again. From then on, it used a no-frills grotesque font and the slogan "DIE MEISTER MACHER" formed a solid base for the upward momentum. The slogan "DIE MEISTER MACHER" was created by target shooters. It is intended to refer to the numerous sporting successes with ANSCHÜTZ rifles in national and international competitions, world championships and Olympic Games.
The modernized ANSCHÜTZ logo was valid in this form until 2016
In the middle of the 80's ANSCHÜTZ was already internationally known for excellent air and small bore match rifles. Shooters all over the world trusted in ANSCHÜTZ products and achieved national and international success. But at the end of the 70's a new success story started which quickly gained momentum in the 80's: The ANSCHÜTZ biathlon rifles!
After 1945, biathlon was increasingly demilitarized. While in the predecessor of biathlon, the military patrol race, it was still compulsory for a team to consist of an officer, a non-commissioned officer and two soldiers, the sport was now increasingly opened up to civilian athletes. In 1977 - also under the influence of Dieter Anschütz - there was a switch from large-caliber to small-caliber rifles and the shooting distance was reduced from up to 250m to 50m. As a result, interest in the sport of biathlon continued to grow and today it is particularly popular in Scandinavia, Russia and Germany.
In 1984, the Winter Olympics were held in Sarajevo in what was then Yugoslavia. Biathlon competitions were held there in three different disciplines. 64 participants from 25 countries competed for the coveted medals. One who was particularly successful was the German Peter Angerer. He won the "Individual 20km" discipline with two faults and took silver in the 10km sprint with only one fault. The medal set was completed by the bronze medal in the relay. Thus he was not only one of the first medal winners with an ANSCHÜTZ biathlon rifle, but together with the Norwegian Eirik Kvalfoss, who also took home a complete set of medals, also the most successful biathlete of these Winter Games. Through his outstanding success at the Winter Games, Peter Angerer also contributed to the fact that spectator interest in biathlon continued to grow in West Germany and that the sport was given a much higher status than a few years ago, especially in television coverage.
Prone shooting in Sarajevo, 1984
Peter Angerer with his complete set of medals at the Olympic Games in Sarajevo, 1984
The Summer Olympics took place in Los Angeles in the same year. The American Pat Spurgin, who was just 18 years old at the time, entered the shooting range for the first time at the Olympic Games with her ANSCHÜTZ air rifle. She not only beat 32 other competitors and won gold, she also set an Olympic record with 393 rings. A sensational performance!
Dieter Anschütz congratulates Pat Spurgin on winning the Olympic gold medal, 1984
Two years later, the 44th World Rifle Championships were held in Suhl, East Germany. In the discipline "50m Three-Position Team Men" the Czechoslovakians Petr Kurka, Pavel Soukenik and Milan Bakes won the world championship title with their ANSCHÜTZ rifles and 3522 of 3600 possible points.
Dieter Anschütz presents the ANSCHÜTZ pin of honor in gold to the Czechoslovakian team for the victory at the World Championship in Suhl, 1984
As Zella-Mehlis, the old home of the Anschütz family, is only 10 km away from Suhl, Dieter Anschütz took the opportunity to invite representatives of the ISSF (International Shooting Sports Federation) to a Thuringian bratwurst meal in the old Anschütz villa during the World Championships. More than 40 years after the Americans marched into Zella-Mehlis in 1945 and drove Dieter Anschütz and his family away from Zella-Mehlis, the Anschütz family finally held another party in the villa in Regenbergstraße. During the feast, the Stasi was omnipresent around the house. A cousin of Dieter Anschütz lived in the house in GDR times, and the villa is still occupied by close relatives today. She provided the rooms for the party and took care of roasting the famous Thuringian sausages.
In the Anschütz Villa in Zella-Mehlis, Dieter Anschütz (front side) received the official representatives of international shooting in 1986. Among them Olegario Vázquez Raña from Mexico (to the right of Dieter Anschütz), president of ISSF, to his right ISSF-secretary general Horst G. Schreiber (FRG) and referee Bill Krilling (USA). Next to them Wolfgang Schreiber, editor of ISSF News and Norbert Ussfeller from the ANSCHÜTZ service team. To the left of Dieter Anschütz sit Andreas Hartinger, then President of the German Shooting Federation and Jesus Elizondo, international referee from Mexico.
The visit to the old home also gave Dieter Anschütz one last opportunity to visit the old factory site. This had not been used since 1945 and was quietly decaying. Therefore, in 1988 - 92 years after the start of construction - it was decided to demolish the buildings. After the factory building was cleared out, the remaining skeleton of the building was blown up and crumbled into rubble. The remains were taken away and today the place where high-precision rifles were once manufactured is nothing but unused wasteland.
The beginning of the end. The old factory building in Zella-Mehlis has been demolished down to the load-bearing walls.
The building was blown up.
The rubble was taken away. Today, nothing reminds of the once world-famous factory that once stood there.
Gary Anderson retired from active international competition in 1969. From then on, he continued to devote his time and energy to the shooting sports, coaching young shooters, teaching shooting classes, speaking at numerous shooting events and authoring hundreds of magazine articles and three books on shooting. Even during his "retirement" from competitive shooting, he competed in the National Rifle Association National Highpower Championships at Camp Perry, Ohio, winning the President's National Trophy in 1973, 1975 and 1976. In 1996, he was Director of the Olympic Shooting Range at the Olympic Games in Atlanta (USA) and was responsible for the construction of the entire range. Today he is Vice President of the ISSF and President of the Civilian Marksmanship Unit at Camp Perry. In an interview with a major US trade magazine, Anderson emphasized: "We shooters have very much appreciated the fact that our ideas and suggestions have always fallen on fertile ground at ANSCHÜTZ and have been immediately incorporated into the products. And if we tinkered with some useful detail on our rifles ourselves, such as the cheek piece adjustment or modifications to the butt plate, or changed the shape of the grip, these innovations were soon available from ANSCHÜTZ as accessories." Anderson and Dieter Anschütz met again at the 1990 Shot Show in Las Vegas. In recognition of his services to the shooting sport, the latter presented him with part of the Berlin Wall, which had fallen only a few months previously.
Dieter Anschütz presents Gary Anderson with a piece of the Berlin Wall at the 1990 Shot Show in Las Vegas.
Shortly after the Shot Show in Las Vegas, on 04/22/1990 Dieter Anschütz celebrated his 60th birthday. To mark the occasion, the shooters of the U.S. National Team presented him with a plaque to thank him for his years of support for them and the entire shooting sports.
The US national team's gift for Dieter Anschütz's 60th birthday.
