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![]() Fuchs in 1980 | |
Personal information | |
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Birth name | Ruth Gamm |
Nationality | ![]() |
Born | Egeln, Saxony-Anhalt ![]() | 14 December 1946
Died | 20 September 2023 76) Jena, Thuringia ![]() | (aged
Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in) |
Weight | 71 kg (157 lb) |
Sport | |
Country | ![]() |
Sport | Athletics |
Event | Javelin throw |
Club | TuS Jena |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best | 69.96 m (1980) |
Medal record |
Ruth Fuchs ( née Gamm, later Hellmann, 14 December 1946 – 20 September 2023) was a German politician and athlete. Fuchs, representing East Germany, was the winner of the women's javelin at the 1972 (Munich) and 1976 (Montreal) Olympic Games. She set the world record for the javelin six times during the 1970s.
Her personal best throw was 69.96 metres with the old javelin type, achieved in April 1980 in Split. This ranks her seventh among German old-type-javelin throwers, behind Petra Felke (who held the world record), Antje Kempe, Silke Renk, Beate Koch, Karen Forkel, and Tanja Damaske. [1]
Fuchs admitted using steroids during her career, as part of the official East German sports programme.
After retirement from track and field, Fuchs became a member of Parliament for the Party of Democratic Socialism (now the Left Party) in the re-united Germany. After her retirement from public life Fuchs lived in Bucha, Saale-Holzland, in Thuringia, Germany.
Ruth Fuchs died at the University Hospital in Jena on 20 September 2023, at the age of 76. [2]
Lillian Copeland was an American track and field Olympic champion athlete, who excelled in discus, javelin throwing, and shot put, setting multiple world records. She has been called "the most successful female discus thrower in U.S. history". She also held multiple titles in shot put and javelin throwing. She won a silver medal in discus at the 1928 Summer Olympics, a gold medal in discus at the 1932 Summer Olympics, and gold medals in discus, javelin, and shot put at the 1935 Maccabiah Games in Mandatory Palestine.
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The women's javelin throw field event at the 1972 Olympic Games took place on August 31 & September 1. On 11 June 1972 Ewa Gryziecka from Poland broke the javelin throw world record with a throw of 62.70m only to have Ruth Fuchs break that record on the same day with a throw of 65.06m. In 1972 Fuchs was the strong favorite heading in the Olympics. Kate Schmidt took the early lead on the first throw, but this was soon passed by the favorite on the second throw. She ended up topping her own mark two more time in rounds four and five. Fuchs would go one and set the new javelin world record in 1973, 1974 and 1976.
Ewa Gryziecka-Kwiecińska is a Polish former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. She is a former world record holder in the event and represented Poland at the Summer Olympics and the European Athletics Championships. In her career, she was twice national champion and twice broke the Polish record.
Mereoni Vibose was a Fijian female track and field athlete who competed in the discus throw and javelin throw. She won nine South Pacific Games medals from 1969 to 1991 and set the Fijian record for javelin and discus at the National Athletics Championships. Vibose was inducted into the Fiji Sports Hall of Fame in 1998. She represented her country internationally at the World Championships in Athletics and at the Commonwealth Games.