Ulrike Meyfarth in action at the 1982 European Championships in Athens
where she set a World Record of 2.02m.
1972 Olympic High Jump Gold medallist - aged 16 !
The international athletics career of Ulrike Meyfarth had all the elements of a fairytale,
including a spectacular entrance, followed by years in the doldrums, and culminating
in an incredible return to ascend to the top rung of the ladder. Meyfarth first showed
indications of her prodigious high-jumping talent when she cleared 1.80m at only
15 years of age, to finish second behind Renate Gartner in the 1971 West German
national championships in Stuttgart on 10 July 1971.
The following year, Meyfarth just squeezed into third place behind Gartner and Ellen Mundinger
on the West German team to the Olympic Games in Munich. Few gave the 16 year-old
Meyfarth any chance for a medal at Munich, as many of the competitors, including
world record holder Ilona Gusenbauer (Austria) had personal bests above Ulrike's 1.85m.
Meyfarth breezed through the qualifying round on 3 September (see photo above)
and then, in the final the following day, she decimated a quality international field in an
astonishing display of high jumping for someone of her tender years. Ulrike cleared
1.79m, 1.82m, and an equal personal best of 1.85m on her first attempts to put her
in a three-way tie for the lead. She then jumped over 1.88m at her first attempt, a
height that only Gusenbauer and Yordanka Blagoyeva (Bulgaria) could also negotiate.
Meyfarth however was the only jumper to clear the bar when it was raised to 1.90m,
a height 5cm above her personal best prior to the Olympics, to win the gold medal in
front of the partisan West German crowd. At 16years 123 days, she became the
youngest athlete ever to win an individual Olympic track and field gold medal.
Not content with this achievement, Meyfarth then proceeded to clear 1.92m at her
first attempt to equal Gusenbauer's world record. (Ron Casey)
1982 European Gold with new World Record.
Ulrike Meyfarth made a spectacular debut in international athletics at the 1972 Olympic
Games in Munich, winning the gold medal in the high jump at only 16 years of age with
a world record equalling 1.92m. Not unnaturally, it was assumed that this achievement
would herald a long and distinguished career for Meyfarth but, in fact, she spent the
years immediately following Munich in relative mediocrity. At the European Junior
Championships in August 1973, the reigning Olympic champion could only finish in a
tie for second place, with a jump of 1.80m.
The following year, at the 1974 European Championships in Rome, Meyfarth finished
7th with a height of 1.83m. Ulrike made a short return to form in 1975, as she equalled
her 1972 personal best of 1.92m when finishing second behind world record holder
Rosemarie Ackermann (East Germany) in the European Cup final. However, at the
1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, Meyfarth could only manage a lacklustre 1.78m in the
qualifying round, and failed to advance to the final.
Meyfarth's career started to emerge from its stagnation in 1978 when she finally improved
her six-year old personal best to 1.95m when finishing second in her national championships
on 12 August, followed by a fifth place at the European Championships held later that month
in Prague. She further improved to 1.96m in 1981, followed by an astonishing advancement
in 1982. Early in that year, Ulrike won the European Indoor Championships at Milan on 7th March
with a height of 1.99m, followed by an outdoor best of 1.97m on 29 May, and then a 2.00m
clearance at the national championships in Munich on 25 July. She concluded the year in
great style, winning the European Championships at Athens on 8 September (see photo above)
with a new world record of 2.02m. (Ron Casey)
1984 Olympic High Jump champion.
Ulrike Meyfarth had a wonderful season in 1982, raising her personal best in the high jump by 6cm, and capped
it off by winning the European title from Tamara Bykova (Soviet Union) in a new world record of 2.02m.
During 1983, Meyfarth had the first of two epic battles with Bykova at the World Championships in Helsinki on
9th August. Meyfarth and Bykova were the only two jumpers to clear 1.97m in Helsinki, but the Soviet jumper
held the lead at that point because she had only needed one attempt at that height compared with two for Meyfarth.
They both then cleared 1.99m, but this time Bykova needed two attempts, whereas Ulrike made it on her first try
and therefore assumed the lead. Bykova then cleared 2.01m, but Meyfarth was unable to match that height
and finished with the silver medal.
Their second encounter was at the European Cup in London (Crystal Palace)
on 21 August where both athletes again cleared 1.99m, with Bykova leading Meyfarth at that point, as she had
only needed one attempt compared with Ulrika's two. Meyfarth, cleared 2.01m on her third attempt, but Bykova
had cleared the same height on her first try, and seemed to have the competition sewn up, until Meyfarth
amazingly cleared a new world record of 2.03m on her first attempt. Ten minutes later, Bykova equalled the new record
but it was on her second attempt, and thus it was Ulrika who won the competition. Meyfarth was denied the
opportunity of a return encounter with Bykova at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games due to the eastern bloc boycott
and although she received stiff opposition from Sara Simeoni (Italy), she went on to win (see photo above) her
second Olympic gold medal in the last major competition of her career. (Ron Casey)