Hofmann won silver in the men's under-80 kilograms category at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

He was also a three-time European champion and a 15-time gold medallist at Germany's national championships.

Hofmann held the grade of 8th Dan and served as a judo lecturer at the German Sport University in Cologne for several years.

According to the IJF, Hofmann's understanding of the sport "still shapes the training and examination regulations of the German Judo Association".

"Above all, judo means: practising on the mat, moving, fighting with many partners, or, as the Japanese say, understanding with the body," the foreword of the book Hofmann brought out together with Mahito Ohgo of Japan in the early 1970s reads.

Hofmann died just over two weeks before he was due to celebrate his 80th birthday.

The IJF said the German Judo Association "and the whole judo family mourns the loss of a pioneer of German judo".