Martina Hellmann
Encyclopedia
Martina Hellmann, née Opitz (born 12 December 1960 in Leipzig
, Saxony
), is a retired German
track and field
athlete who represented East Germany. She was the Olympic
champion in the discus throw
at the 1988 Summer Olympics
. She also won the World Championship in that event in 1983 and again in 1987.
Hellmann was sixteen years old when she began participating in the event. In 1977 she gave the participants' oath at the opening of the East German gymnastics and sport festival. That summer she set the world record for 16-year-olds with a throw of 55.00 meters. Her career was plagued by sickness and injury until 1983 when she became the surprise world champion. She was unable to compete at the 1984 summer Olympic games due to her country's boycott.
On 6 September 1988 she threw the discus 78.14 meters, further than anybody had ever thrown it before. The throw came though in an unofficial training tournament in the East German training camp at Kienbaum, therefore the throw was not eligible to be considered a world record. Her personal best throw was 72.92 metres, achieved in August 1987 in Potsdam
. This result ranks her tenth on the world all-time list and sixth among German discus throwers, behind Gabriele Reinsch
, Ilke Wyludda
, Diana Gansky-Sachse, Irina Meszynski
and Gisela Beyer
.
After the 1992 Summer Olympics
, where she was eliminated during qualification, she retired. She later was the head of a sports group of the insurance company AOK and became a manager at a cabaret in Leipzig.
Hellmann represented the SC DHfK Leipzig sport club and trained with Rolf Wittenbecher and Bernhard Thomas. During her active career she was 1.78 meters tall and weighed 81 kilograms.
Leipzig
Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing...
, Saxony
Saxony
The Free State of Saxony is a landlocked state of Germany, contingent with Brandenburg, Saxony Anhalt, Thuringia, Bavaria, the Czech Republic and Poland. It is the tenth-largest German state in area, with of Germany's sixteen states....
), is a retired German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
track and field
Track and field
Track and field is a sport comprising various competitive athletic contests based around the activities of running, jumping and throwing. The name of the sport derives from the venue for the competitions: a stadium which features an oval running track surrounding a grassy area...
athlete who represented East Germany. She was the Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
champion in the discus throw
Discus throw
The discus throw is an event in track and field athletics competition, in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than his or her competitors. It is an ancient sport, as evidenced by the 5th century BC Myron statue, Discobolus...
at the 1988 Summer Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 Summer Olympics...
. She also won the World Championship in that event in 1983 and again in 1987.
Hellmann was sixteen years old when she began participating in the event. In 1977 she gave the participants' oath at the opening of the East German gymnastics and sport festival. That summer she set the world record for 16-year-olds with a throw of 55.00 meters. Her career was plagued by sickness and injury until 1983 when she became the surprise world champion. She was unable to compete at the 1984 summer Olympic games due to her country's boycott.
On 6 September 1988 she threw the discus 78.14 meters, further than anybody had ever thrown it before. The throw came though in an unofficial training tournament in the East German training camp at Kienbaum, therefore the throw was not eligible to be considered a world record. Her personal best throw was 72.92 metres, achieved in August 1987 in Potsdam
Potsdam
Potsdam is the capital city of the German federal state of Brandenburg and part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. It is situated on the River Havel, southwest of Berlin city centre....
. This result ranks her tenth on the world all-time list and sixth among German discus throwers, behind Gabriele Reinsch
Gabriele Reinsch
Gabriele Reinsch is a German track and field athlete. She represented East Germany in the Olympic games in the discus throw....
, Ilke Wyludda
Ilke Wyludda
Ilke Wyludda is a former discus thrower from Germany.She set eleven junior records at discus throw and even two at shot put, and became junior world champion. Between 1989 and 1991 she recorded 41 successive wins, only to be beaten by Tsvetanka Khristova at the 1991 World Championships...
, Diana Gansky-Sachse, Irina Meszynski
Irina Meszynski
Irina Meszynski is a retired East German discus thrower.On August 17, 1984 Meszynski set a world record in women's discus throw at 73.36 meters...
and Gisela Beyer
Gisela Beyer
Gisela Beyer is a retired East German discus thrower.She finished fourth at the 1980 Summer Olympics, fourth at the 1982 European Championships and fifth at the 1983 World Championships...
.
After the 1992 Summer Olympics
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
, where she was eliminated during qualification, she retired. She later was the head of a sports group of the insurance company AOK and became a manager at a cabaret in Leipzig.
Hellmann represented the SC DHfK Leipzig sport club and trained with Rolf Wittenbecher and Bernhard Thomas. During her active career she was 1.78 meters tall and weighed 81 kilograms.
Achievements
| Representing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 1st | 68.94 m |
| 1986 | European Championships | Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... , West Germany West Germany West Germany is the common English, but not official, name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation in May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990.... |
3rd | 68.26 m |
| 1987 | World Championships | Rome, Italy | 1st | 71.62 m |
| 1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 1st | 72.30 m |
| 1990 | European Championships | Split Split (city) Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and... , FR Yugoslavia |
3rd | 66.66 m |