Ann-Louise Skoglund

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Eva Ann-Louise Skoglund (born June 28, 1962 in Karlstad , Sweden ) is a former Swedish athlete . She was the first European champion in the 400 meter hurdles .

Life

Skoglund was already in the 400-meter run at the Olympic Games in Moscow in 1980 , but was eliminated in the preliminary run. At the European Championships in Athens in 1982 , the 400-meter hurdles race for women was on the program for the first time. Completely surprising, the then 20-year-old Swede won the title in 54.58 seconds, ahead of Petra Pfaff from the GDR and the French Chantal Réga .

After Skoglund had finished sixth behind two runners from the Soviet Union and three runners from the GDR at the World Championships in Helsinki in 1983 in 54.80 seconds, she had good chances for the final at the Olympic debut of the 400-meter hurdles in Los Angeles in 1984 . Their chances increased when it became clear that the runners from the Soviet Union and the GDR would not be at the start because of the Olympic boycott .

In the final in Los Angeles, eight runners from eight countries and five continents competed. The result was:

  • 1st place in 54.61s Nawal El Moutawakel from Morocco
  • 2nd place in 55.20 s Judi Brown from the USA
  • 3rd place in 55.41 s Cristieana Cojocaru from Romania
  • 4th place in 55.42 s Pilavullakandi Usha from India
  • 5th place in 55.43 s Ann-Louise Skoglund from Sweden
  • 6th place in 56.21s Debbie Flintoff from Australia
  • 7th place in 56.55 s Tuija Helander from Finland
  • 8th place in 57.15 s Sandra Farmer from Jamaica

So Skoglund missed an Olympic medal by two hundredths of a second.

At the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, Skoglund was fourth with a new Swedish record of 54.15 s, behind Marina Stepanowa from the Soviet Union and behind Sabine Busch and Cornelia Feuerbach from the GDR.

During her competition time she was 1.75 m tall and weighed 58 kg.

In 2006 , Susanna Kallur was the first Swedish runner to win gold again after Skoglund at the European Championships, this time in the 100 meter hurdles.

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