 Between 15 September 1959 and 6 September 1960 he set four European records in 400 metres, reducing the time down to 44.9 s, which remained the record until the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City.He competed for the United Team of Germany at the 1960 Summer Olympics in the 400 metres and won the silver.The finish line picture of Kaufmann's desperate lunge to try to capture the gold has been shown in many track and field publications.