Louise Ritter

Louise Ritter ( Dorothy Louise Ritter ; born February 18, 1958 in Dallas , Texas ) is a former American high jumper .

Louise Ritter was one of the best high jumpers from 1979 to 1989. She was nominated for the 1980 Olympic Games , but could not participate due to the Olympic boycott.

At the first World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983 , Ritter was third behind Tamara Bykowa from the Soviet Union and the German Ulrike Meyfarth with a jump of 1.95 meters .

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, she only finished eighth with 1.91 meters. At the World Championships in 1987 , Bulgarian Stefka Kostadinova won the 2006 world record of 2.09 meters. Louise Ritter was eighth with 1.93 meters.

The Bulgarian was also the clear favorite for the 1988 Olympic Games . Ritter had set a new US record in July 1988 with 2.03 and was considered a medal candidate. In the final on September 30th, Kostadinova and Ritter jumped up to 2.01 meters without fail and were therefore first and second. Both failed three times at the height of 2.03 and now a jump-off had to decide the Olympic victory. First Kostadinowa failed in the fourth attempt at 2.03 meters, then Louise Ritter jumped and crossed the bar. Louise Ritter had become an Olympic champion when her US record was set.

In 1989 Louise Ritter resigned from competitive sports. Today she works as a trainer. Their national record still stands in 2006.

Louise Ritter is 1.78 m tall and weighed 60 kg at competition times.

Web links

• Louise Ritter in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Louise Ritter in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )