Drechsler makes European history in Budapest | 50 Golden Moments

In 1998, no athlete had ever won five individual gold medals in European Championships history. Relive how Heike Drechsler changed all that.
For more on European Athletics 50th Anniversary, visit www.european-athletics.org
Follow European Athletics:
/ europeanathletics
/ europeanathletics
/ euroathletics
#EA50 #Athletics

[@ykalantzis]

Great athlete, she dominated long jump and 200m for a long time. Respect.

[@travisstrong5389]

Great athlete yes, but dominated 200 metres? She never won a World or Olympic title at 200 metres.

[@kurtfrancis4621]

She had her equal in Jackie Joyner-Kersee. Both were long jump record holders and Jackie beat her for Olympic gold in 1988. I would agree that Heike has a longer record and more accomplished major wins accomplishments in the long jump, however. In the 200 meters, Heike was very accomplished, but she has only 2 major 200 meter global medals to her credit, and one of those was the indoor 200m in 1987.

[@MirjanaLfan]

@@kurtfrancis4621she won a European championships gold and silver too in the 200m. She equalled the 21.71 WR to win.

[@richardbutler9217]

In 2001 she finally acknowledged she was given performance enhancing drugs by trainers and doctors throughout her career without questioning.

[@sandroevangelisti1]

Untouchable, with her 2 Olympic titles, two world titles outdoors and one indoors, four consecutive European titles and more that 407 leaps over 7 m during her long carrier (1978-2004)!

[@stoolpigeon4285]

more than 407 you say. Is that 408 then?

[@bobbwc7011]

And the longest jump in history, 7.63 m in Sestriere.

[@veridicusmaximus6010]

Great athlete and such a graceful sprinter/jumper.

[@AT-zr9tv]

What an athlete. Beautiful technique, lovely smile.

[@carolinehirst4921]

Beautiful looking woman. I had a big crush on her.

[@SERWAAish]

I really love this lady, Heike was great, I hope Malaika Mihambo follows in her footsteps 👏🏾👏🏾🙏🏾🙌🏾❤️🇩🇪🇹🇿

[@mariogar766]

Number 1 of Long Jump

[@ryanolson6466]

Her long jump at the end - way to dig! Dang!

[@normhanson981]

I had no idea that she was so fast over 200m . Incredible.

[@user-pi4qn3eh4l]

Dreschler est incomparable elle est unique .rare de voir telle athlete vu ses exploits et son parcours fou

[@jamesnazon8714]

Dreschler was and is the best long jumper and the greatest German athelete

[@user-ui6kv2np8i]

Greatest German athlete ? Are you kidding? She in NO way even begins to compare to Marita Koch, who is the only athlete in history, male or female, to break WRs over 50m, 60m, 100m, 100yds, 200m, 220yds, 300m, 400m, 4x100m and 4x400m. Not many people even know that her 100m indoor world record of 11.15 set in 1980 STILL stands today, 41 years later. She set 30 WRs in total. Never mind greatest German athlete, many consider Marita to be THE greatest female athlete in history.

[@thomasjr8318]

@@user-ui6kv2np8i Both Marita Koch and Heike Drechsler were victims of the state-controlled doping program in the GDR. In the most extreme cases, they gave even 9-year old women steroids, but latest by 14, everyone was doped. When women are exposed to these drugs at this young age, they have a clear long-term advantage over other athletes, even over those that also took steriods but started later. This is because at that young age, many muscle fibres have not yet specialized, and steroids in combination with strength and speed training favors them to specialize towards strength and speed. Marita Koch clearly suffered from the side effects, demonstrated by her extremely deep voice (for a woman) and very masculine facial features.

[@user-ui6kv2np8i]

@@thomasjr8318 Marita doesn't have masculine facial features imo she's gorgeous, www.letsrun.com/photos/2013/iaaf-awards-gala/imagepages/image182.php Re drugs, they never seemed to 'help' any of the female GDR athletes beyond 400m, I can't recall any champion or even medalist beyond that distance. The GDR was heavily geared towards sprints, as they are considered the 'blue ribbon' events in athletics, therefore that's what they pushed their girls towards. Even without drugs, Marita was known to beat boys older than her and ran a 22.5 200m at age 15. Yes, drugs helped her times, but, they helped the times of every other elite athlete too, and still do so today. Marita was simply a freak of nature. A once in a lifetime athlete.

[@pepelopezcrecimientopersonal]

@@user-ui6kv2np8i WR indoor 11.15??? maybe you meant German record...

[@user-ui6kv2np8i]

@@pepelopezcrecimientopersonal No, WR. Marita still holds the 100m indoor WR. The time of 11.15 that she ran in 1981 still hasn't been broken. It was almost certainly run on a straight track as due to the tightness of the bends there's no way anyone can run an 11.15 on a normal indoor track, and I guess that there are no indoor tracks with a 100m straight left.

[@gaelgarciabernal2434]

No doubt, she is iconic and impacted the sport with her versatility and perseverance! To this day, I don't understand why she didn't run the anchor leg in the 4×100 @ Seoul 1988.

[@mstk1803]

May be her tight schedule . She had 2 finals in same day 200m and long jump .

[@capthecap812]

un'atleta straordinaria

[@richardbutler9217]

In 2001 she acknowledged that throughout her track and field career she had been given performance enhancing drugs by trainers and doctors which she did not question at the time.

[@n.kaiser6700]

Genial 👍

[@kevinmoore.7426]

Were any short arm inspections ever performed ?

[@josepaulinogarciaperez7955]

Campeona N 1 Atletismo Si

[@russetvelvet]

female GOAT!

[@douglasraddi4872]

Heiki Drechsler is the best long jumper of all time. She is beautiful, white, and German

[@delcos4515]

😅😅😅😂😂😂

[@skateskape]

Why are all the spamming bots asking to be friends?

[@mariomarini3774]

A symbol of Deutsche reunion with Helmuth Kohl

[@Nachtdenker]

Ne, gute Ausbildung in der DDR.

[@berndschnabel4870]

Du bist Deutsch ❤ hast mir liebe gegeben DDR Heimat

[@anthmacpappy]

gun went and a full second passed before girl in lane 8 stuttered..would have been sub 21

[@bvreid18]

Drug era!