Astrid KUMBERNUSS

 After an inconsistent start to her career, Astrid Kumbernuss matured to be the dominant force in women's shot putting during the late 1990s. She gave an early indication of her ability while still in the junior ranks, winning the silver medal at the 1987 European Junior Championships, and the gold medal at the same meet in 1989. In addition, she was second in the discus throw at the 1988 World Junior Championships in Sudbury. Kumbernuss had only just advanced to senior competition when, aged only 20, she won the shot put at the 1990 European Championships in Split with a throw of 20.38m. Her career then appeared to wane and she did not compete at either the 1991 World Championships or the 1992 Olympic Games.

At the 1993 World Championships in Stuttgart, Kumbernuss finished 6th, although her qualifying throw of 19.92m would have earned her the bronze medal if she had been able to reproduce it in the final. The following year, Kumbernuss just failed to successfully defend her European title at Helsinki, taking the silver medal behind Ukrainian Vita Pavlysh. In 1995, Kumbernuss was in a class above the rest of the world's shot putters, winning all 18 of her outdoor competitions, and in seven of them she exceeded the best mark of the year's next ranked woman. She easily won the gold medal at the World Championships in Gothenburg, with a personal best of 21.22m, by 1.18m, the largest margin ever at an Olympic Games or World Championships. In 1996, Kumbernuss was again undefeated, and she easily won the gold medal (see photo above) at the Atlanta Olympic Games on 2 August with a throw of 20.56m in the first round of the competition. (Ron Casey)

Astrid Kumbernuss had been undefeated for over two years, with a win streak of over 50 competitions, when she was unexpectedly beaten by Ukrainian Vita Pavlysh at the 1997 World Indoor Championships in Paris. Kumbernuss' second place effort of 19.92m was only 8 centimetres behind the winner's best throw. Despite this upset, Kumbernuss still reigned supreme during the 1997 outdoor season, winning all but one of her 28 competitions, and in eight of them she exceeded the best mark of the year's second ranked woman. She won a number of early season meets leading up to the World Championships in Athens, including a win, with a best throw of 20.51m, at the Nikaia meet in Nice on 16 July (see photo above). Her best throw of the year, which she achieved at Hamburg on 23 July, equalled the career best throw of 21.22m which she produced in 1995.

At the World Championships in Athens, Astrid had another close battle with Vita Pavlysh. It was obvious that they were the only two contenders for the gold medal after the qualifying round, where Kumbernuss threw 20.69m and Pavlysh threw 20.48m, both well beyond the 19.05m of the third best qualifier. In the final on 7 August, Pavlysh opened with a foul, to which Kumbernuss responded with a throw of 20.59m. Although Pavlysh came close to equalling this with her second round throw of 20.57m, Kumbernuss extended the lead with her second round effort of 20.71m. Pavlysh improved to 20.66m in the final round, but it was not enough to win the gold medal, and Kumbernuss thus secured her second successive world championship title. (Ron Casey)

Following her second World Championships victory at Athens in August 1997, Astrid Kumbernuss underwent knee surgery in November 1997, and then took the whole of the 1998 season off, during which time she gave birth to her son, Philip, on 7 July. Despite her absence from competition, Kumbernuss made a remarkable return in 1999, winning her third consecutive World Championships title at Seville on 25 August with a throw of 19.85m. In 2000, although she was still producing world-class performances, Kumbernuss did not have the same domination of the event that she had enjoyed in earlier years. At the European Indoor Championships at Ghent on 26 February, she finished third, with her best throw of 19.12m over a metre behind the 20.15m of gold medal winner Larisa Peleshenko of Russia.

Kumbernuss improved on her throw at Ghent a number of times during the outdoor season in Europe, including three meets with throws over 20 metres, during her preparation for the Olympic Games held later that year in Sydney. These meets comprised of wins at Leverkusen on 20 August with a throw of 20.03m, followed by a win at Neuwied on 26 August, where she produced her best throw of the year of 20.23m, and a win at Bad Kostritz on 3 September, where she reached 20.12m. Her only loss in the European outdoor season was a narrow defeat by compatriot Nadine Kleinert-Schnitt at Dortmund on 8 July. However, Kumbernuss had not competed against her major competition before the Olympic Games, and when she attempted to defend her Olympic title at the Sydney Olympic Games on 28 September (see photo above), her best throw of 19.62m could only win her the bronze medal behind Yanina Korolchik of Belarus and Larisa Peleshenko. (Ron Casey)