18 Facts About Marita Koch

Marita Koch is a German former sprint track and field athlete.

Koch and Meier moved to Rostock where Koch began to study medicine.

Marita Koch was coached by Meier for her entire career, and they later married.

Marita Koch retained her maiden name, and is known as Marita Koch-Meier.

Marita Koch ran a 400 m quarterfinal at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, but withdrew due to injury.

Marita Koch set her first world record in 1977 in Milan, when she ran a 400 m indoors in 51.8 seconds.

Marita Koch topped this with another two world records within a month.

In 1979 Marita Koch became the first woman to run a 200 m in under 22 seconds.

Marita Koch tied her own 200 m world record in 1984.

At the Moscow Olympics of 1980 Marita Koch won the 400 m race.

Marita Koch won the European Championships at 400 m in 1978,1982 and 1986.

Marita Koch remained the European record holder for the 200 m until 28 August 2015 when Dafne Schippers won the 200 m final at the 2015 World Championships with a time of 21.63 seconds.

Marita Koch retired from running in 1987 as one of Germany's most successful athletes.

Marita Koch had suffered from an Achilles tendon injury Marita Koch and Meier own a sports goods store in Rostock.

On 6 October 1985 at the year's World Cup meet, Marita Koch set the current 400 m world record of 47.60 seconds.

One week prior to her 400 m world record run, anecdotal reports suggest that Marita Koch had run the 200 m in 21.56 seconds.

Marita Koch had gained too much of an advantage in the early stages of the race, and Vladykina was unable to pull in Marita Koch before the finish line.

Berendonk and Franke discovered a letter allegedly written by Marita Koch, complaining that her rival, Barbel Wockel, was receiving higher doses of steroids than her because Wockel's uncle was president of the pharmaceutical company Jenapharm.