14 Facts About Karin Balzer

Karin Balzer was an East German hurdler who competed in the 80 m hurdles event at the 1960,1964 and 1968 Olympics, and in the 100 m hurdles in 1972.

Karin Balzer won a gold medal in 1964 and a bronze in 1972, while finishing fifth in 1968.

Karin Balzer was born Karin Richert in Magdeburg, and competed in several track and field events in her teens.

Karin Balzer showed her best results in the 80 m hurdles and qualified for the 1960 Summer Olympics.

Karin Balzer finished fourth in her Olympic semifinal and narrowly missed the final.

Now competing as Karin Balzer, she won her first international medal, silver, at the 1962 European Athletics Championships.

Electronic timing showed Karin Balzer had beaten the two other medalists by one and two hundredths of a second, respectively.

Two years later, Karin Balzer won a second title at the 1966 European Athletics Championships, and then placed fifth in the 1968 Olympic final; she was the Olympic flag bearer for East Germany at those Games.

That was the last major event in which the high hurdles were run over 80 m; from 1969 on, the event became the 100 m Balzer set the inaugural world record in that event, in June 1969, then subsequently lowered it twice during that same year.

Karin Balzer successfully defended her European title in Athens, which she repeated in Helsinki in 1971.

Karin Balzer died the day before the final of the 100 m hurdles, but her husband did not tell her until after the race, in which she won her second Olympic medal, bronze.

Karin Balzer's second son, Falk Karin Balzer was born on 1973 and became a hurdler.

Karin Balzer's best achievement was a second place in the 110 m hurdles at the 1998 European Championships.

Karin Balzer was trained as a chemist, and worked as a lab technician from 1955 to 1961.