Karin Büttner-Janz ( Janz, born 17 February 1952) is a German medical doctor who won world and Olympic gold medals in

artistic gymnastics Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

for

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. From 1990 to 2012, she was chief physician of clinics in Berlin, Germany. She has a foundation named Spinefoundation.

Gymnastics career

Her first coach was her father Guido Janz, who taught her excellent basics. Büttner-Janz moved to a sports school in

Forst Forst may refer to: Communities In Germany *, in the district of Aachen *Forst (Baden), in Baden-Württemberg *Forst (Lausitz), in Brandenburg * Forst (Unterfranken), part of Schonungen, Bavaria * Forst, Altenkirchen, in the district of Altenk ...

, where she trained under Klaus Helbeck. Her final coach was Jürgen Heritz. In 1967, at the age of 15, Büttner-Janz was nominated as East German Athlete of the Year after a silver medal on the uneven bars and a bronze medal on the vault at the European championship in Amsterdam. She went on to win the silver medal on the

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB or ...

and a bronze medal as part of the country's gymnastics team at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

. At the 1970 world championships she overcame

Ludmilla Tourischeva Ludmilla Ivanovna Tourischeva (Russian: Людми́ла Ива́новна Тури́щева; also transliterated as Ludmilla Turischeva, Ludmilla Tourischcheva, and Ljudmila Turichtchieva, born 7 October 1952) is a former Russian gymnast, Ukra ...

on the uneven bars to win the gold medal. In a controversial finish, she delivered another gold medal winning performance on the uneven bars at 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. ...

, defeating

Olga Korbut Olga Valentinovna Korbut, ; russian: Ольга Валентиновна Корбут, group=nb (born 16 May 1955) is a former gymnast who competed for the Soviet Union. Nicknamed the " Sparrow from Minsk", she won four gold medals and two silve ...

on her favourite apparatus. She also won the gold medal on the vault, a silver medal as part of the East German women's gymnastic team, another prestigious silver medal in the all around competition, with

of the Soviet Union winning the gold and

Tamara Lazakovich Tamara Vasilyevna Lazakovich (russian: Тамара Васильевна Лазакович; 11 March 1954 – 1 November 1992) was a Soviet artistic gymnast who competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Described as a "perky sparrow" with a "purity ...

of the Soviet Union winning the bronze, and bronze on the balance beam. Most believed she was robbed of the All Around title, especially as with almost the exact same performances she outscored Tourischeva by a whopping 0.65 of a point (more than a fall) in the event finals 4 routines combined. She was the most successful German athlete 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. ...

in Munich and was afterwards recognized as GDR (German Democratic Republic) Sportswoman of the Year in 1972. After these successes she announced her intention of ending her competitive career to turn to the study of medicine to become a physician. Büttner-Janz has an uneven bars element named after her, the ''Janz Salto'', which she first performed in competition at the

SV Dynamo The Sportvereinigung Dynamo () (''Dynamo Sports Association'') was the sport association of the security agencies (Volkspolizei, Ministry for State Security, fire department and customs) of former East Germany. The association was founded on 27 ...

Spartakiade The Spartakiad (or Spartakiade) was an international sports event that was sponsored by the Soviet Union. Five international Spartakiades were held from 1928 to 1937. Later Spartakiads were organized as national sport events of the Eastern Bloc ...

East Berlin East Berlin was the ''de facto'' capital city of East Germany from 1949 to 1990. Formally, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet sector of Berlin, established in 1945. The American, British, and French sectors were known as ...

, 1971.

Academic physician

Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1986-0222-002, Berlin, Entwicklungskollektiv der künstlichen Bandscheibe

Büttner-Janz studied at the

Humboldt University Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative of ...

beginning in 1971 and earned her diploma in

emergency medicine Emergency medicine is the medical speciality concerned with the care of illnesses or injuries requiring immediate medical attention. Emergency physicians (often called “ER doctors” in the United States) continuously learn to care for unsche ...

. Later, she conducted her clinical semester at the orthopedic hospital of the

Charité The Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Charité – Berlin University of Medicine) is one of Europe's largest university hospitals, affiliated with Humboldt University and Free University Berlin. With numerous Collaborative Research Cen ...

and went on to specialize in

orthopaedics Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

. She obtained her postdoctoral lecture qualification (habilitation treatise) through her work on the development of an artificial spine disk, known as the ''Charité Disc''. She developed the device together with her colleague Kurt Schellnack. In 1990, Büttner-Janz moved from the Charité Berlin to the orthopedic clinic of Berlin-Hellersdorf, in 2004 to the

Vivantes The Vivantes Hospital Group is a state-owned healthcare company operating hospitals, primary health care centers, nursing facilities and other medical centers in Berlin. The company runs 10 hospitals with total capacity of about 6,000 beds and m ...

clinic of Berlin-Friedrichshain. From 2008 to 2012, she was additionally Chief Physician of the Vivantes clinic in Berlin-Kreuzberg. In 2005, she became Extraordinary Professor at the Charité-Unviversitätsmedizin Berlin. From 2008 to 2009 she was president of the Spine Arthroplasty Society (later renamed to International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery). From 2014 to 2016, she studied at the

Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft (''University of Applied Sciences for Engineering and Economics'') or HTW Berlin in Berlin, Germany is the largest public University of Applied Sciences in Berlin and Eastern Germany. It has over 13,000 stud ...

und became Master of Business Administration (MBA) in general management.

Honours

*1972 – awarded the title of

Merited Master of Sport of the USSR Unified Sports Classification System of the USSR (russian: Единая Всесоюзная спортивная классификация) is a document which provided general Soviet physical education system requirements for both athletes an ...

. *2003 – inducted into the

International Gymnastics Hall of Fame The International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, located in Oklahoma City, USA, is a hall of fame dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of the world's greatest competitors, coaches and authorities in artistic gymnastics. The early IGHO ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buttner-Janz, Karin 1952 births Living people People from Lübben (Spreewald) East German physicians East German women German orthopedic surgeons German women physicians German women scientists German female artistic gymnasts Sportspeople from Brandenburg Gymnasts at the 1968 Summer Olympics Gymnasts at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany Olympic gymnasts of East Germany Olympic medalists in gymnastics World champion gymnasts Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships European champions in gymnastics Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Recipients of the National Prize of East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin Honoured Masters of Sport of the USSR 20th-century German women LGBT gymnasts German LGBT sportspeople

Gymnastics career

Academic physician

Honours

See also

References

External links