Marlies Göhr (néeOelsner, born 21 March 1958 inGera) is a formerEast Germantrack and field athlete, the winner of the100 metres at the inauguralWorld Championships in 1983. She ranked in the top 10 of the 100 m world rankings for twelve straight years, ranking first in six of those years. During this time she won manymedals as asprinter at major international championships and set several world records.
Her breakthrough year was in 1977, winning the 100 m title at the East German championships atDresden in a world record time of 10.88 s. This landmark performance was the first time a woman had run under 11 seconds with electronic timing. Later that year, she won the 100 m title at the inauguralWorld Cup inDüsseldorf, where she also won a silver medal in the relay.
She had a unique style of running, dubbed 'sewing machine' (or 'staccato') for the high frequency of relatively short-paced strides.[3]
Marlies continued to dominate in 1978, competing under her married name of Göhr. She won the gold medal in the 100 m in that year'sEuropean Championships inPrague and was just beaten by one hundredth of a second in the200 m byLyudmila Kondratyeva (Soviet Union).
In 1979, at theWorld Cup inMontreal, she was beaten into second place in the 100 m byEvelyn Ashford (U.S.), thus starting a competitive rivalry.
In early 1980 Göhr confirmed herself as a favourite for the Olympic 100 m title. During a two-week span in May she ran 10.98 s atPotsdam, followed by an 11.00 s atJena and atDresden she ran a fast 10.93 sec, second only to her own world record time of 10.88 s. At theMoscowOlympic Games Göhr's main opposition wasLyudmila Kondratyeva (Soviet Union) who had beaten Göhr in the 200 m at the1978 European Championships. Göhr got a bad start in the final and was edged out by Kondratyeva, who made a final lunge near the finish to win the gold medal, again by one hundredth of a second. Six days later, Göhr lined up for the 4 × 100 m relay final and anchored the team home to win the gold medal in a world record of 41.60 s.
Marlies Göhr (1982)
Göhr made a good start to the 1981 season winning her third consecutive European Cup 100 m title atZagreb in 11.17 s. Yet, on the world stage at theWorld Cup inRome, Göhr had to settle for less than gold, again beaten byEvelyn Ashford, as well as byKathy Smallwood (Great Britain). The following year at the1982 European Championships inAthens, Göhr won in 11.01 s, becoming the first woman to defend the title.
The Göhr/Ashford rivalry blossomed in 1983, when both broke the world record. Firstly, Göhr broke it at the Olympic Day meet inEast Berlin, winning in a time of 10.81 s. This record lasted less than a month, however, since Ashford broke it with a 10.79 s. Both athletes were in top form leading up to the inauguralWorld Championships, held inHelsinki. Both Göhr and Ashford won their respective semi-finals. Unfortunately, the final was anticlimactic since Ashford tore her hamstring during the race. Göhr won the gold medal from compatriotMarita Koch in 10.97 s and lifted a second gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay.
Göhr and Ashford continued their dominance of the 100 m in 1984, recording the season's fastest 10 times between them. Unfortunately, Göhr was unable to compete at that year'sOlympic Games inLos Angeles, because of the boycott by the Eastern Bloc countries, and Ashford won the gold medal. Ashford's time of 10.97 secs was the first time a woman had run a legal sub-11 second clocking in the Olympic Games. They had a showdown in Zurich, in which Ashford won setting a new world record of 10.76 to Gohr's 10.84.[4]
In 1986, Göhr was focused on retaining her 100 m title at theEuropean Championships inStuttgart. She defended her title with a season's best time of 10.91 s and became the first woman to win three European 100 m titles. She then won a second gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. In October 1986, she was awarded aStar of People's Friendship in gold (second class) for her sporting success.[5]
Göhr's last two appearances in major international championships were at the1987 World Championships in Athletics inRome and at the1988 Olympic Games inSeoul. She was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100 m in Rome but won a silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. At theOlympics, she was again eliminated in the 100 m semi-finals but won another silver in the relay.
