Silke Möller (néeGladisch, born 20 June 1964) is a Germanathlete, who in the 1980s competed forEast Germany as one of the best femalesprinters in the world. She was a member of the East German quartet that broke theworld record in the4 × 100 m relay at the World cup inCanberra on 6 October 1985. She and teammatesSabine Rieger,Marlies Göhr, andIngrid Auerswald ran a time of 41.37 seconds, which stood as the world record until 2012. She is the 1987World champion at both 100 metres and 200 metres.
Moller was born inStralsund,Bezirk Rostock (present-dayMecklenburg-Vorpommern). During her career she often stood in the shadows of Göhr,Marita Koch, andHeike Drechsler. Only in 1987, while still using her maiden name Gladisch, did she come into her own: at the track and field world championship of 1987 she won two titles – in the100 m sprint and the200 m sprint, as well as second place with the 4 × 100 m relay team. With these results she was chosen as the East German sportswoman of the year.
Möller's 200m final performance at Rome in 1987 was exceptionally fast, she stopped the clock at 21.74 seconds. She had won the race by several meters and defeated a world class field includingFlorence Griffith andMerlene Ottey. Her time of 21.74 seconds was only just outside the then world record of 21.71 held by Marita Koch and Heike Drechsler.
At the1988 Summer Olympics inSeoul she won thesilver medal as a member of the East German 4 × 100 m relay team (she had at that time taken the name Möller).
In 1992 she was implicated withKatrin Krabbe andGrit Breuer in adoping scandal, but was later cleared by the International Athletic Federation (IAAF). Shortly before the1992 Summer Olympics she quit her athletic career and began to study history inRostock. She worked as a history and sports teacher. She has a daughter.
Möller represented the Empor Rostock sport club and trained under Wolfgang Meier (Marita Koch's coach and now husband). While she was actively competing, she was 1.63 metres tall and weighed 57 kilograms.
East Germany
