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In the years immediately preceding the 1983 season, Marlies Gohr vied
for supremacy in the 100m with Evelyn Ashford (USA). Ashford had beaten
Gohr at both the 1979 and 1981 World Cups, while they were both denied
another opportunity to face each other at the 1980 Olympic Games in
Moscow, as Ashford did not compete due to the USA boycott. For her
part, Gohr had been the world-record holder since 1977, and had tied her
world record of 10.88sec during 1982 in an East Germany v USA
international match, where Ashford was again an absentee. Their rivalry
stepped up another notch in 1983, when they both broke the world
record. Firstly, Marlies broke her own world record at the Olympic Day
meet in East Berlin on 8 June, where she won in a time of 10.81sec.
This record lasted less than a month however, until Ashford broke it
with a 10.79sec clocking on 3 July.
They were obviously both in top
form leading up to the inaugural World Championships held later that
year in Helsinki, and Gohr confirmed her readiness when she ran the
anchor leg on an East German 4 x 100m relay team which broke the world
record on 31 July with a time of 41.53sec. At Helsinki, on 8 August,
the sense of expectation heightened when both Gohr and Ashford won their
respective semi-finals. In the final, held later that day, the two
favourites were drawn well apart from each other, with Ashford in lane
2, and Gohr on the extreme outside in lane 8. It unfortunately turned
into a bit of an anticlimax, when Ashford tore her right hamstring at
the halfway mark and failed to finish, while Gohr went on to win the
gold medal from compatriot Marita Koch (see photo above) in 10.97sec. Marlies won a second gold medal two days later in the 4 x 100m relay. (Ron Casey)
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