Heike Drechsler

Heike Gabriela Drechsler née Daute (born December 16, 1964 in Gera, then East Germany) is a German track and field athlete. She is one of the most successful female long jumpers of all time and also had several successes in sprint disciplines.

She is the only woman who has won two Olympic gold medals in the long jump (1992 and 2000). She also won two World Championships in the long jump (1983 and 1993), as well as gold medals in the long jump and the 200 m sprint in the World Indoor Championships 1987. In addition, she had numerous successes in European and German championships.

Drechsler's greatest rival in the long jump was Jackie Joyner-Kersee, with whom she was also very good friends.

In 1986, Drechsler twice equalled Marita Koch's 200 metres sprint world record and set two long jump world records and equalled one in 1985 and 1986. As of 2000, she had more than four hundred long jump competitions with results over seven meters, more than any other female athlete.

As teenager she was active in the Free German Youth (FDJ) and in 1984 she was elected to the Volkskammer of East Germany.

Several German websites, including her own, claim that Heike Drechsler was voted "Athlete of the Century" in 1999 by the IAAF. This is not quite correct: she was put on the "shortlist" [http://www.int.iol.co.za/index.php?set_id=6&click_id=174&art_id=qw942423300264B216] but the award was given to Fanny Blankers-Koen [http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=2/newsId=23914.html] .

External links

* [http://www.heike-drechsler.com/ Home page of Heike Drechsler] de icon
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