Karin Balzer

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Karin Balzer

Halle an der Saale in October 1963
Personal information
Born	5 June 1938 (1938-06-05) Magdeburg, Germany
Died	17 December 2019 (2019-12-18) (aged 81)
Height	1.71 m (5 ft 7 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	80, 100 m hurdles
Club	SC DHfK SC Leipzig
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	80 mH – 10.61 (1968) 100 mH – 12.6 (1971)
Medal record Representing   Germany Olympic Games 1964 Tokyo 80 m hurdles Representing  East Germany Olympic Games 1972 Munich 100 m hurdles European Championships 1966 Budapest 80 m hurdles 1969 Athens 100 m hurdles 1971 Helsinki 100 m hurdles 1962 Belgrade 80 m hurdles 1971 Helsinki 4×100 m relay

Karin Balzer (

The following year, she married her coach, retired pole vaulter, Karl-Heinz Balzer. Some years earlier, they had briefly fled the DDR, but had returned weeks later. Now competing as Karin Balzer, she won her first international medal, silver, at the 1962 European Athletics Championships. In 1964, she tied the world record in the hurdles during a pentathlon competition. Despite showing good results she never competed in pentathlon at major meets.

At the Tokyo Olympics that same year, she placed first in the final of the 80 m hurdles. In a close finish, the first three runners all timed 10.5 seconds, equal to the world record (although the record was not ratified due to a wind). Electronic timing showed Balzer had beaten the two other medalists by one and two hundredths of a second, respectively.^[3]

Two years later, Balzer won a second title at the 1966 European Athletics Championships, and then placed fifth in the 1968 Olympic final; she was the Olympic flag bearer for East Germany at those Games. That was the last major event in which the high hurdles were run over 80 m; from 1969 on, the event became the 100 m. Balzer set the inaugural world record in that event, in June 1969, then subsequently lowered it twice during that same year. She also successfully defended her European title in Athens, which she repeated in Helsinki in 1971.^[2] That year she was voted German Sportspersonality of the Year.

While in training for the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Balzer's son, Andreas was involved in an accident, and was comatised. He died the day before the final of the 100 m hurdles, but her husband did not tell her until after the race, in which she won her second Olympic medal, bronze.^[2] Balzer's second son, Falk Balzer (born 1973)^[4] also became a hurdler. His best achievement was a second place in the 110 m hurdles at the 1998 European Championships.^[4]

Balzer was trained as a chemist, and worked as a lab technician from 1955 to 1961. From 1961 until 1976 she was a sports school teacher in

External links

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• dataOlympics profile

Records
Preceded by Teresa Sukniewicz	Women's 100m Hurdles World Record Holder 20 June 1969 – 20 June 1970	Succeeded by Teresa Sukniewicz
Preceded by Teresa Sukniewicz	Women's 100m Hurdles World Record Holder 26 July 1970 – 28 June 1972	Succeeded by Pam Ryan
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Erika Zuchold	East German Sportswoman of the Year 1971	Succeeded by Karin Janz
Sporting positions
Preceded by Chi Cheng	Women's 100m Hurdles Best Year Performance 1971	Succeeded by Anneliese Ehrhardt