Gisela Birkemeyer

Gisela Birkemeyer at the GDR championships in 1960

Gisela Birkemeyer , née Gisela Köhler (born December 22, 1931 in Fasendorf , Saxony ) is a former German athlete and Olympic participant who was among the world's top 80-meter hurdlers in the 1950s and 1960s .

Life

The daughter of a Berlin engineer grew up in Thuringia and trained as a technical draftsman. Since 1951 she worked for the Landessportbund Thuringia in Erfurt and was discovered by the then active runner Heinz Birkemeyer (1922–1991). In 1957 she married her trainer Birkemeyer.

Sports career

Her way to SC Dynamo Berlin went through the Motor Jena sports club . Köhler won gold in the 100-meter run at the championships in the GDR in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960. In the 200-meter run , she won gold in 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 and 1960. In the In the 80-meter hurdles she was continuously GDR champion from 1953 to 1961.

Starting in a joint German team for the GDR, she won two Olympic medals: At the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956 the silver medal (under her birth name Koehler) and at the Olympic Games in Rome in 1960 the bronze medal. At the European Championships in Stockholm in 1958 , she was third in the 80-meter hurdles. She was also successful in the 100 and 200 meters and in the pentathlon. From 1951 to 1964 she was GDR champion a total of 40 times.

At a height of 1.62 m, she had a competition weight of 60 kg.

Records

• 1956 - European record in the 100-meter run: 11.5 s
• 1960 - world records in the 80-meter hurdles:
  • 10.6 s (July 24th, world record set)
  • 10.5 s (July 25, always in Leipzig )
  • European record in the 200-meter run: 23.4 s

Others

In 1956 she became a civil employee of the German People's Police , in 1957 a VP member (most recently a captain ). From 1958 to 1963 she was a member of the city ​​council of Berlin. After the end of her sports career, she worked from 1965 to 1968 as a young trainer at SC Dynamo Berlin and from 1968 to 1986 as an employee in the sports office of SC Dynamo. She retired early and lives in Berlin-Marzahn .

Awards

• In 1959 she was voted GDR sportswoman of the year .
• In 1960 she received the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze.

literature

• Volker Kluge :  Birkemeyer, Gisela . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
• Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes, medals and biographies. 2nd updated edition. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-538-4 , p. 48.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Neues Deutschland , December 4, 1956, p. 6
2. ↑ Berliner Zeitung , October 30, 1958, p. 6
3. ^ New Germany, October 7, 1960, p. 4

Web links

Commons : Gisela Birkemeyer  - collection of images, videos and audio files