Olympic Track & Field Codexery

Heike Drechsler

German long jump and sprint legend, former world record holder, and two-time Olympic gold medalist.

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She won two Olympic golds, two World Championship titles, and four European golds during her career.[1] Drechsler also competed as a sprinter of some repute.[1]

Key facts and history

Drechsler transitioned to elite sprinting in 1986 at age 21, having been a competitive long jumper as a teenager.[2] She won European gold in the long jump and 200 meters at Stuttgart in 1986.[1] Injuries kept her out of the 1996 Olympics and the 1999 and 2001 World Championships.[1] In July 1984, she wed Andreas Drechsler and afterward used his surname in competitions.[2]

Erich Drechsler, who was her father-in-law, served as her coach.[2] In 1999, the IAAF placed her on a shortlist for "Athlete of the Century", but Fanny Blankers-Koen ultimately received that honor.[3]

What the cited sources add

A 2002 BBC article stated that Drechsler's status as a long jump legend was long secured.[1] The same BBC article reported that Drechsler admitted in 2001 to unknowingly taking performance-enhancing drugs in the 1980s on team doctors' orders.[1] According to Wikipedia, throughout her career she never had a positive drug test; however, East German athletes were tested before traveling abroad to prevent detection.[4] Documents uncovered in 1991 by researchers reconstructed state-run doping programs that involved Drechsler.[5]

Evidence suggested that from 1982 to 1984, prior to competitions, she took large amounts of Oral Turinabol and received testosterone ester injections.[5] A lawsuit Drechsler filed in 1993 against Brigitte Berendonk over doping allegations was unsuccessful.[5][6]

References

  1. BBC Drechsler keeps on jumping. facts only, no text reused. news.bbc.co.uk
  2. Wikipedia, "Heike Drechsler" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Heike Drechsler. Sporting Heroes. Retrieved on 11 April 2014. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Heike Drechsler" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Hohe staatliche Auszeichnungen verliehen", Neues Deutschland, 15 October 1986, p. 6; "Fehler"; "IAAF International Association of Athletics Federations - IAAF.org - News - Article" (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Heike Drechsler" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Janofsky, "Drug Use by Prominent Athletes Reported", The New York Times, 29 November 1990; BBC Drechsler keeps on jumping (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Heike Drechsler" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Brigitte Berendonk: Doping documents – From Scientific Research to Cheating. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1991, , p. 125, Table 7; ↑ Cf Uwe Mueller / Grit Hartman: Forward and forget it! Kader, spies and accomplices – The dangerous legacy of the SED dictatorship, Berlin 2009, p. 215 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Heike Drechsler" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: ↑ Brigitte Berendonk: Doping documents – From Scientific Research to Cheating. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1991, , p. 122, Fig 6; ↑ Brigitte Berendonk: Doping documents – From Scientific Research to Cheating. Springer-Verlag, Berlin 1991, , p. 133, Figure 11 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Heike Drechsler (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

Career statistics and honours

Medals

Tables copied from the source article, totals included as the source gives them: Wikipedia: Heike Drechsler (CC BY-SA 4.0). Wide tables scroll sideways.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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