From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Marita Koch (born 18 February 1957 in Wismar, East Germany) is a former sprint athlete.
Career
Her married name is Marita Koch Meier. During her
career she collected a remarkable sixteen world records in outdoor sprints, as well
as 14 world records in indoor events.
Koch set her first world record in 1977 in Milan when she ran 400 metres indoors in
51.8 seconds. The following year, she set her first outdoor record
at 400 metres in 49.19 seconds. She topped this with another two
world records within a month.
Koch was unable to compete at the 1976
Summer Olympics in Montreal due to injury, but had been considered a
certainty for a medal had she made it there.
In 1979 Koch became the first woman to run 200 metres in under
22 seconds. Her time of 21.71 seconds set at Karl Marx Stadt stood as the world record
for nine years. Three weeks before the 1984
Olympic Games she tied her own record but the East German
boycott prevented her from competing in the games. The Moscow
Olympics of 1980 was her only one, and she won the gold medal in the
individual 400 metres and silver medal in the 4 x 400 m relay.
Koch set the current 400 metre world record of 47.60 seconds, a
time considered far out of reach of even the best present athletes
[1], on 6
October 1985 at Bruce Stadium in Canberra, Australia.
Marlies
Göhr challenged Marita Koch in indoor sprints. As a result,
Marita Koch became one of the most successful runners over 50 and
60 metres where she set many records between 1980 and 1985.
As a member of East Germany's relay teams, Koch set more world
records. With a team led together with Göhr, they set new world
records over 4x100 metres in 1979 and 1983. In the 1980 Olympic
Games, Koch was part of the team that won silver over 4x400 metres.
The same team set world records over the same distance in 1980,
1982 and 1984.
Marita Koch in Berlin, August 21, 1986
Koch also won the European Championships at 400 m in 1978, 1982 and 1986 before retiring in 1987 as one of
Germany's most successful athletes. She remains the European record
holder over 200 metres.
Drug use
controversy
Koch's achievements, along with the extraordinary performances
of many other East German female athletes, aroused considerable
suspicion at the time that they were achieved with the aid of anabolic
steroids or other performance-enhancing drugs, which were and
remain illegal but were not detectable at the time.
References
External
links
East
Germany
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