Ariane Friedrich (born Tempel; 10 January 1984 in
Nordhausen Nordhausen may refer to:
* Nordhausen (district), a district in Thuringia, Germany
** Nordhausen, Thuringia, a city in the district
**Nordhausen station, the railway station in the city
* Nordhouse, a commune in Alsace (German: Nordhausen)
* Narost ...
) is a German
high jumper. She won the
silver medal at the
2009 World Championships and represented Germany at the
2008 Summer Olympics and
2012 Summer Olympics. She is the
German outdoor record holder in the event with a best of 2.06 m, although this is 1 cm less than the indoor record held by
Heike Henkel
Heike Henkel (; born Heike Redetzky on 5 May 1964) is a German former athlete competing in high jump. She was Olympic, World and European champion. She won the high jump gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.
Biograp ...
.
She became
German champion in 2004, 2007, 2008, 2009 and
2010, and represents the club
LG Eintracht Frankfurt.
Controversy arose in 2012 when she named an alleged stalker on
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin Mosk ...
, potentially violating German privacy laws.
Career
Friedrich won the
gold medal at the
2003 European Junior Championships, the bronze medal at the
2005 Summer Universiade,
silver
Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
at the
2007 Summer Universiade and the gold medal at the
2009 Summer Universiade
The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provin ...
.
The 2008 indoor season saw significant improvement in Friedrich's clearances: she improved her best by 8 cm during the period, clearing two metres for the first time and setting her top mark at 2.02 m. Her coach noted that these achievements were due to her improved work ethic and focus. She finished eighth at the
2008 World Indoor Championships and took seventh in the high jump final at the
2008 Beijing Olympics.
Her 2009 indoor season started strongly with a win at the
2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships
The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held in Turin, Italy, from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March 2009. The championships took place at the Oval Lingotto indoor arena in a jump of 2.01 m. Her outdoor season started with a personal best jump of 2.06 metres in June 2009 at the
Internationales Stadionfest
The Internationales Stadionfest (ISTAF) is an annual track and field athletics meeting at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, Germany. It was first held in July 1921 at the Deutsches Stadion, which was replaced from 1937 by the Stadium of the 1936 Ol ...
, breaking Heike Henkel's outdoor national record of 2.05 m,
and she won another gold at the
2009 European Team Championships later that month. She gained a complete set of Universiade medals in July when she finally won the gold at the
2009 Summer Universiade
The 2009 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XXV Summer Universiade, was celebrated in Belgrade, Serbia from July 1 to 12, 2009. The event has also been organised by a range of co-host cities mostly in Vojvodina (Serbian Autonomous Provin ...
.
Ariane Friedrich won the bronze medal at the
2009 World Championships in Athletics
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...
in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
. She reflected that the public pressure for her to become world champion had placed her under much stress. However, she was very happy at having achieved a jump of 2.02 m for third place behind
Blanka Vlašić
Blanka Vlašić (; born 8 November 1983) is a Croatian former track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump. She is a two-time world champion and double Olympic medallist who ranks as the joint second highest female jumper of all tim ...
and
Anna Chicherova
Anna Vladimirovna Chicherova (russian: Анна Владимировна Чичерова; born 22 July 1982) is a Russian high jumper. She was the gold medalist at the 2012 London Olympics and the 2011 World Championships in Athletics and origin ...
. Friedrich missed the
2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was held between 12 and 14 March at the Aspire Dome in Doha, Qatar. The championships was the first of six IAAF World Athletics Series events to take place in 2010.
Bidding and organisation ...
due to a knee injury and instead set her sights on medalling at the
2010 European Athletics Championships
The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...
. She jumped 2.01 m at the European Championships in Barcelona, but she was beaten by Vlašić (who equalled the championship record) and also by
Emma Green on count-back, leaving her with the bronze medal. She became the first German woman to win at the
Internationales Hochsprung-Meeting Eberstadt a month later.
On December 22, 2010 she ruptured her left
Achilles tendon
The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus ( ...
during training and was ruled out of the entire 2011 season including the
World Championships
A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...
in
Daegu.
[Monsters and Critics (2010-12-28]
Friedrich hopes for 2012 Olympics after Achilles tendon rupture
Retrieved on 2010-12-29.
She failed to make the final at the 2012 London Olympic Games, finishing 14th in the Qualifying Rounds.
In September 2014, she gave birth to a baby girl. She came back to the competition in January 2016, after almost four years. She jumped for her first competition 1,87 m.
Personal bests
*
All information taken from IAAF profile.
Competition record
*Results with a Q, indicate overall position in qualifying round.
See also
*
Female two metres club
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedrich, Ariane
1984 births
Living people
People from Nordhausen, Thuringia
Sportspeople from Thuringia
German female high jumpers
German national athletics champions
Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
Olympic athletes of Germany
Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
World Athletics Championships medalists
European Athletics Championships medalists
Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
Universiade gold medalists for Germany
Universiade silver medalists for Germany
Universiade bronze medalists for Germany
Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade
Medalists at the 2007 Summer Universiade