Heike HENKEL

Heike Henkel's rise to greatness as a high jumper was more a tale of slow and steady progression, rather than one of rapid overnight improvement. In her first Olympic Games, at Los Angeles in 1984, Heike, competing under her maiden name of Redetzky, finished relatively unnoticed in equal 11th place. Two years later, she finished 6th at the European Championships in Stuttgart. Heike's performances gradually progressed year by year, and in 1987, she set a new personal best of 1.96m when finishing third at the European Cup in Prague on 28 June. She equalled this height when she also finished third in the World Championships in Rome on 30 August. Heike had mixed fortunes in 1988, setting a new personal best of 1.98m in June, but failing to qualify for the final at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.

The two highlights of Heike's life during 1989 were her marriage to German swimming champion Rainer Henkel in May, and her first 2.00m clearance at Cologne on 20 August. In 1990, Henkel gained her first major title, winning the high jump at the European Championships in Split on 31 August. This was the prelude to an outstanding year for Henkel in 1991, where she won all but two of the 32 competitions in which she competed both indoors and out. On March 9, she competed at her third World Indoor Championships in Seville, having finished 6th in 1987 and third in 1989. At Seville, she became the World Indoor champion, when she cleared 2.00m at her first attempt. Henkel's major achievement was at the World Championships in Tokyo on 31 August. Having effectively won the competition with her first-time clearance of 1.98m, Henkel proceeded to also clear 2.00m, 2.02m, and finally a personal best of 2.05m (see photo above) to totally crush her opposition. (Ron Casey).

Heike Henkel had a phenomenal year during 1991, winning both the World Indoor and World Outdoor high jump titles, and raising her personal best to 2.05m. Henkel continued this form into the following year, when she cleared her lifetime best height of 2.07m in an indoor meet at Karlsruhe on 8 February. Henkel's only real competition during that year came from Stefka Kostadinova (Bulgaria). Henkel and Kostadinova cleared 2.00m in 21 and 22 meets respectively during 1992, whereas the next best total was only one. The high jump gold medal at the Olympic Games in Barcelona that year was thus expected to be a contest between these two athletes.

However, in the Olympic final, on 8 August, things didn't go exactly to plan. With the bar at 1.97m, both Henkel and Kostadinova missed twice, and were in danger of being eliminated. The Bulgarian failed on her third attempt, and Henkel scraped over, but this only put her in third position. Henkel then cleared 2.00m on her first attempt, but she was still only in second place, behind Galina Astafei (Romania), who was providing surprising competition and had also cleared 2.00m on her first attempt. Henkel's only solution was to keep jumping higher, which she did, clearing 2.02m to win the gold medal (see photo above) from Astafei. Henkel finished second to Kostadinova in the World Indoor Championships at Toronto in March 1993, but had to withdraw from the final of the World Championships at Stuttgart that year due to injury.

Heike gave birth to her son, Ravn, in February 1994, and returned to compete in her fifth World Indoor Championships at Barcelona in March 1995 where she finished third. Henkel failed to qualify for the World Championships later that year in Gothenburg, and that effectively signalled the end of her career. (Ron Casey)