Heide Rosendahl 1972 Umm al-Quwain stamp

Heidemarie Ecker-Rosendahl (; ; born 14 February 1947) is a retired German athlete who competed mainly in the

pentathlon A pentathlon is a contest featuring five events. The name is derived from Greek: combining the words ''pente'' (five) and -''athlon'' (competition) ( gr, πένταθλον). The first pentathlon was documented in Ancient Greece and was part of t ...

and long jump. On September 3, 1970, at the

1970 Summer Universiade The 1970 Summer Universiade, also known as the VI Summer Universiade, took place in Turin, Italy. After the city of Lisbon, Portugal failed to host the 1969 Summer Universiade, the games were assigned to Turin to be held next year. Sports at t ...

in Turin, she set a world record in the long jump at 6.84 m "East German Sets Record at Games", ''Ottawa Journal'', September 4, 1970, p. 24 that stood for almost six years.

Biography

She won the long jump gold medal in the

1972 Munich 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. ...

with a leap of 6.78 m, one centimetre ahead of

Diana Yorgova Dianа Yorgova ( bg, Диана Йоргова) (born 9 December 1942 in Lovech) is a former Bulgarian athlete, who competed mainly in the Long Jump. She competed for Bulgaria at the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany in the Long Ju ...

of Bulgaria. Two days later in a thrilling pentathlon, she finished second to Mary Peters of Great Britain.Heide Rosendahl
. sports-reference.com After the three events on the first day Rosendahl was in the fifth place, 301 points behind Peters. On the second day, she jumped 6.83 m in the long jump (one cm short of the record) and ran the 200 m in 22.96 seconds. She finished with 4791 points, 16 points better than Burglinde Pollak's world record. She held the world record for 1.12 seconds before Peters bettered it by 10 points on finishing her 200 m race in 24.08 seconds. To further prove her versatility, she helped the West German 4 × 100 m team with

Christiane Krause Christiane Krause (born 14 December 1950) is a German athlete who competed mainly in the 100 metres. She competed for West Germany in the 1972 Summer Olympics held in Munich, Germany in the 4 x 100 metres where she won the gold medal with he ...

Ingrid Mickler-Becker Ingrid Mickler-Becker (; née ''Becker'' on 26 September 1942) is a former West German athlete. Her name is sometimes written incorrectly as Ingrid Mickler in result lists. Her international career lasted from 1960 to 1972. She won the pentathl ...

and

Annegret Richter Annegret Richter (born 13 October 1950) is a German (former West German) athlete and the 1976 Olympic 100 m champion. Biography Born Annegret Irrgang, she won her first international title at the 1971 European Championships, as a part of ...

to the gold medal and a world record; holding off the East German sprints champion Renate Stecher, in the process. In 1970 and 1972 Rosendahl was chosen as the German Sportswoman of the Year. She had a degree in physical education and worked as athletics coach at TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen (1976–1990) and Deutsche Leichtathletik-Verband (1993–2001). She is married to John Ecker, an American basketball player who won the 1969, 1970 and 1971 NCAA Championships as a member of the UCLA Bruins. Their son, Danny Ecker, was a world-class pole vaulter. Rosendahl's father, Heinz Rosendahl, was the German champion in the discus throw in 1948, 1951 and 1953.

References

External links

Leverkusen who's who
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rosendahl, Heidi 1947 births Living people People from Oberbergischer Kreis Sportspeople from Cologne (region) West German female long jumpers West German female sprinters West German heptathletes Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of West Germany Olympic gold medalists for West Germany Olympic silver medalists for West Germany Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for West Germany Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade