Lieselotte "Liesel" Westermann-Krieg (born Westermann on 2 November 1944; ) is a retired German

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er. She held the

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 ...

from 5 November 1967 to 12 August 1971, with a two-months break in 1968. She competed for West Germany at the 1968 and 1972 Olympics and finished in second and fifth place, respectively. She won silver medals at the 1966 and 1971 European championships. For her athletics achievements Westermann was selected as the

German Sportspersonality 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 ...

in 1967 and 1969, and inducted into the

Germany's Sports Hall of Fame The Germany's Sports Hall of Fame (german: Hall of Fame des deutschen Sports) is the national sports hall of fame in Germany, initiated 2006. The inductions are made by Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe, Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund and Verband Deu ...

in 2011. After retiring from competitions Westermann worked as a teacher of physical education, eventually becoming a consultant for sports and health education with the Ministry for Science and Culture of Lower Saxony. An avid opponent of doping (she was once described as the last undoped discus world record holder) she was a member of the Anti-Doping Commission of the German Sports Federation and the National Olympic Committee. Westermann is married and has four children. As a member of the Free Democratic Party she unsuccessfully contested district elections in 1984.

Publications

* Liesel Westermann (1977) ''Es kann nicht immer Lorbeer sein.'' Molden, Munich, .

References

1944 births Living people People from Sulingen German female discus throwers West German female discus throwers Olympic athletes of West Germany Olympic silver medalists for West Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics World record setters in athletics (track and field) European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for West Germany Medalists at the 1967 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1970 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Lower Saxony {{Germany-athletics-Olympic-medalist-stub