Gladys Chai von der Laage (born Chai Ng Mei on 22 February 1953) is a German

sports photographer Sports photography refers to the genre of photography that covers all types of sports. In the majority of cases, professional sports photography is a branch of ''photojournalism,'' while amateur sports photography, such as photos of childre ...

Malaysian Malaysian may refer to: * Something from or related to Malaysia, a country in Southeast Asia * Malaysian Malay, a dialect of Malay language spoken mainly in Malaysia * Malaysian people, people who are identified with the country of Malaysia regard ...

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

origin. She has previously competed at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972. ...

as a Malaysian pentathlete.

Early life

Chai Ng Mei was born on 22 February 1953 to Chinese parents.

Career

When she was 14 years old, Chai won a silver in the high jump event of the 1967 Southeast Asian Games. She trained in West Germany in 1971. The following year, she represented Malaysia in the women's pentathlon event of

but was forced to retire because of an injury. Chai won four golds at the

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

and 1975 SEA games; 2 each in high jump and pentathlon. She finished in the ninth place at the

1974 British Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1974 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The Games were off ...

's women's high jump event and bagged another gold medal in the high jump event of

1979 Southeast Asian Games The 1979 Southeast Asian Games ( id, Pesta Olahraga Asia Tenggara 1979), officially known as the 10th Southeast Asian Games, was a subcontinental multi-sport event held in Jakarta, Indonesia from 21 to 30 September 1979. This was the first ti ...

. Later she became a

and was awarded the German Athletics Association's Media Prize in 2016 after more than twenty years of her work in this profession. The website

Sports Reference Sports Reference, LLC, is an American company which operates several sports-related websites, including Sports-Reference.com, Baseball-Reference.com for baseball, Basketball-Reference.com for basketball, Hockey-Reference.com for ice hockey, Pro- ...

cites her as "one of the world's best-known sports photographers".

Personal life

Chai married a West German sports journalist . Together the couple established their own agency ASVOM. Laage died in 2006.

References

External links

* {{Authority Control 1953 births Living people Athletes from Cologne Sports photographers German women photographers Malaysian female athletes Malaysian high jumpers Pentathletes Olympic athletes for Malaya Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games competitors for Malaysia Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games German people of Chinese descent German people of Malaysian descent SEA Games medalists in athletics SEA Games gold medalists for Malaysia