Marita Koch

Marita Koch (later Meier-Koch; born 18 February 1957) is a German former sprint track and field athlete.

During her career she set 16 world records in outdoor sprints as well as 14 world records in indoor events.

Koch ran a 400 m quarterfinal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal (51.87 seconds), but withdrew due to injury.

She set her first world record in 1977 in Milan, when she ran a 400 m indoors in 51.8 seconds.

The following year, she set her first outdoor record at 400 m in 49.19 seconds.

She topped this with another two world records within a month.

She also won the European Championships at 400 m in 1978, 1982 and 1986.

In 1979 Koch became the first woman to run a 200 m in under 22 seconds.

Her time of 21.71 seconds (wind +0.7 m/s) set at Karl Marx Stadt stood as the world record for nine years.

They set new world records in the 4 × 100 m in 1979 and 1983.

At the Moscow Olympics of 1980 Koch won the 400 m race.

The same team became second in the 4 × 400 m relay in the 1980 Olympic Games.

They also set world records over the same distance in 1980, 1982 and 1984.

She tied her own 200 m world record in 1984 (21.71 seconds +0.3 m/s Potsdam).

Three weeks before the 1984 Olympic Games, she equaled her own record, but the East German boycott prevented her from competing in the games.

Her record of 47.60 in the 400 metres, set on 6 October 1985, still stands.

Born in Wismar, East Germany, Marita Koch displayed exceptional speed even as a young child and was defeating boys much older than herself in sprint races whilst at school.

By the time she had turned 15 years old, she was training under Wolfgang Meier.

Meier worked as a naval engineer, but also coached athletics part-time.

Koch and Meier moved to Rostock where Koch began to study medicine.

However, she decided to stop her studies and focus on running instead.

Koch was coached by Meier for her entire career, and they later married.

She retained her maiden name, and is now known as Marita Koch-Meier.

She and her husband have a daughter named Ulrike.

Koch has held world records over several distances from 50 m to 400 m.

Some of her best performances are as follows:

On 6 October 1985 at the year's World Cup meet, Koch set the current 400 m world record of 47.60 seconds.

That time is considered far out of reach of even the best of today's athletes.

The meet was held at Bruce Stadium in Canberra, Australia, which is at 605 metres altitude.

The world record 400 m run had been well planned, and her basic speed and speed endurance proven in several training runs in the weeks prior.

One week prior to her 400 m world record run, anecdotal reports suggest that Koch had run the 200 m in 21.56 seconds (fully automatic time).

This 200 m performance was never verified by the IAAF and remains unofficial.

In her world record run, Koch, running in lane 2, came out of the blocks at a scorching pace and eliminated the stagger on most of her competitors by the end of the first bend.

However, her 200 m world record was equaled twice in 1986 by Heike Drechsler.

One of Drechsler's 21.71 second 200 m performances was achieved into a headwind whereas both of Koch's performances of 21.71 had a tailwind.

In October 1986, she was awarded a Star of People's Friendship in gold (second class) for her sporting success.

Koch retired from running in 1987 as one of Germany's most successful athletes.

She had suffered from an Achilles tendon injury She and Meier own a sports goods store in Rostock.

She remained the European record holder for the 200 m until 28 August 2015 when Dafne Schippers won the 200 m final at the 2015 World Championships with a time of 21.63 seconds.

As a member of East Germany's relay teams, Koch also set more world records.