Margitta Helmbold-Gummel

Margitta Gummel was born in Magdeburg and made her Olympic début for the combined German team in 1964 (placing fifth) under her maiden name Helmbold. She also competed at the 1968 (gold) and 1972 Olympics (silver) for East Germany under her married name of Gummel. In 1968, she became the first woman to better 19.00 metres in the shot put and was elected that year as the GDR Female Athlete of the Year. Later she became a sports administrator and worked for the GDR NOC, and after German reunification worked with the German NOC until 1993. She studied sports science at the Deutsche Hochschule für Korperkultur (German High School of Physical Culture) at Leipzig, where she became a scientific employee.

In 1966 and 1969 Helmbold-Gummel earned silver medals at the European Championships, adding a bronze medal in 1971. Domestically she won eight national titles and set four outdoor world records. In documents which became public after German reunification, she was listed among the athletes who were on various doping regimens. In 1968 Helmbold-Gummel was the first female athlete to test positive for anabolic steroids in the former GDR (published by Berliner Zeitung on 11 April 1994).

Personal Best: SP – 20.22 (1972).