Heide Rosendahl 1972 Umm al-Quwain stamp

Heidemarie Ecker-Rosendahl (; ; born 14 February 1947) is a retired

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

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 The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. On September 3, 1970, at the 1970 Summer Universiade in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, she set a

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

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 with a leap of 6.78 m, one centimetre ahead of Diana Yorgova of

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

. Two days later in a thrilling pentathlon, she finished second to Mary Peters of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

.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 Burglinde Pollak (later Grimm, born 10 June 1951) is a retired German pentathlete. She won bronze medals at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and finished sixth in 1980. At the European championships she won three silver medals, in 1971, 1974 and 1978. ...

'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, Ingrid Mickler-Becker and Annegret Richter to the gold medal and a world record; holding off the East German sprints champion

Renate Stecher Renate Stecher (, ; née Meißner, born 12 May 1950) is a German (former East German) sprint runner and a triple Olympic champion. She held 34 world records and was the first woman to run 100 metres within 11 seconds. Biography Born as Renate ...

, in the process. In 1970 and 1972 Rosendahl was chosen as the

German Sportswoman of the Year The German Sportspersonality of the Year has been chosen annually since 1947, with separate awards made for men and women. The record holder is tennis player Steffi Graf, who won five awards. Swimmer Michael Groß, tennis player Boris Becker, a ...

. 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 Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player who won the 1969, 1970 and 1971

NCAA Championships The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges and ...

as a member of the

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

. Their son,

Danny Ecker Daniel "Danny" Ecker (born 21 July 1977 in Leverkusen) is a former German athlete competing in the pole vault. Biography His current personal best is 5.93 metres, but through his indoor best performance of 6.00 metres he has a place in the ...

, was a world-class

pole vaulter Pole vaulting, also known as pole jumping, is a track and field event in which an athlete uses a long and flexible pole, usually made from fiberglass or carbon fiber, as an aid to jump over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the My ...

. 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