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 Martina Hellmann at the East German Track and Field Athletics Championships inPotsdam August 1987 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Martina Helga Hellmann |
| Born | Martina Helga Opitz (1960-12-12)12 December 1960 (age 65) |
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 85 kg (187 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country |
|
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Discus throw |
| Club | SC DHfK Leipzig |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest | 72.92 m (1987) |
Martina Helga Hellmann (néeOpitz; born 12 December 1960[1]) is a retiredGermantrack and field athlete who representedEast Germany. She was theOlympic champion in thediscus throw at the1988 Summer Olympics. She also won the World Championship in that event in 1983 and again in 1987.
Born inLeipzig,Saxony, Hellmann was sixteen years old when she began participating in the event. In 1977 she gave the participants' oath at the opening of the East German gymnastics and sport festival. That summer she set the world record for 16-year-olds with a throw of 55.00 meters. Her career was plagued by sickness and injury until 1983 when she became the surprise world champion. She was unable to compete at the 1984 summer Olympic games due to her country's boycott.
On 6 September 1988 she threw the discus 78.14 metres, farther than any woman had ever thrown it before or after. However, this throw was in an unofficial tournament in the East German training camp atKienbaum set up to decide the final GDR place for the Olympic games in Seoul and was not eligible to be considered a world record. During this session she threw the following distances, two of them exceeding the world record at the time, and two more that were ever exceeded by only one female thrower: 76.92m – 78.14m – 70.52m – 76.56m – 75.66m – 74.04m (thewomen's world record, set in July 1988, is 76.80 m).Ilke Wyludda threw a lifetime best 75.36 m, but had to stay home.[2] Five of Hellmann's throws during that competition were better than her official best of 72.92 metres, achieved in August 1987 inPotsdam, and which ranks her ninth on the world all-time list[3] and sixth among German discus throwers, behindGabriele Reinsch, Ilke Wyludda,Diana Gansky-Sachse,Irina Meszynski andGisela Beyer.[4]
After the1992 Summer Olympics, where she was eliminated during qualification, she retired. She later was the head of a sports group of the insurance company AOK and became a manager at a cabaret in Leipzig.
Hellmann represented theSC DHfK Leipzig sport club and trained with Rolf Wittenbecher and Bernhard Thomas. During her active career she was 1.78 meters tall and weighed 85 kilograms.
There is substantial evidence that nearly all East German Olympic track and field athletes in the 1980s, including Hellman, used steroids to enhance athletic performance as part of astate-sponsored program.[5]
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing East Germany | ||||
| 1983 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 1st | 68.94 m |
| 1985 | World Cup | Canberra, Australia | 1st | 69.78 m |
| 1986 | Goodwill Games | Moscow, Soviet Union | 2nd | 69.04 m |
| European Championships | Stuttgart,West Germany | 3rd | 68.26 m | |
| 1987 | World Championships | Rome, Italy | 1st | 71.62 m(currentCR) |
| 1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 1st | 72.30 m(currentOR) |
| 1990 | European Championships | Split,FR Yugoslavia | 3rd | 66.66 m |
Representing Germany | ||||
| 1991 | World Championships | Tokyo, Japan | 4th | 67.14 m |
| 1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | 14th (q) | 60.52 m |
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