The same year he also set his personal best in decathlon and was ranked second in the world in this event.

[2] At the Rome Olympics Lauer was again fourth in 110 m hurdles and ran the anchoring leg for the German's 4 × 100 m relay team.

[3] After the Olympics Lauer was forced to retire from sports – a non-sterile injection resulted in sepsis and prospects of leg amputation.

After recovering Lauer became a country singer and sold a few million copies of his 40+ records.

His single "Taxi nach Texas" was awarded the Silver Lion of Radio Luxembourg in 1964.