Marita Koch biography

 Marita Koch biography

 Marita Koch, married identify Marita Koch Meier, (born Feb. 18, 1957, Wismar, E.Ger.), East German athlete who collected a outstanding 16 particular person and staff world data in outside sprints, in addition to 14 world data in indoor occasions. In her solely Olympic Games, at Moscow in 1980, she received two medals.

An damage pressured Koch to withdraw from the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, the place she had been a favoured competitor. She set the primary of her indoor data the next 12 months in Milan, working the 400-metre dash in 51.80 sec. Her first outside report got here in July 1978, when she ran the 400 metres in 49.19 sec; she topped that by setting two extra 400-metre world data in August. The 400 metres proved to be her finest occasion: she received the gold medal on the 1980 Olympics in Moscow and in 1985 set her remaining world report (47.60 sec) within the 400 metres on the World Cup meet in Canberra, Australia. This report lasted into the Nineteen Nineties.

Challenged by a proficient East German rival, Marlies Göhr, Koch achieved indoor success, turning into the world’s finest runner within the 50-metre (1980) and 60-metre (1981, 1983, 1985) dashes. In 1979 she turned the primary girl to run the 200-metre dash in lower than 22 sec; in 1984 she ran her best 200-metre sprint, tying a world report of 21.71 sec. She was a member of East German relay groups, together with the 4 × 100-metre staff that, led by Koch and Göhr, set world data in 1979 and 1983. Koch additionally competed on the 4 × 400-metre staff that received a silver medal on the 1980 Olympics and set world data in 1980, 1982, and 1984. She retired in 1987.