Rosie Witschas-Ackermann

Rosie Ackermann, as she was known after her marriage to handball player Manfred Ackermann, was the last top female jumper to use the straddle style. Between 1973 and 1980 she dominated the East German Championships, winning 11 titles indoor and outdoor. In 1974, she won her first major title at the European Championships in Rome. She followed through with an Olympic gold at Montréal, and in 1977 became the first woman to clear 2 metres, at the ISTAF competition in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium. She improved that performance to 2.01 at the 1978 European Championships, but her celebrations caused the mat to slide and the bar fell. This cost Ackermann the title, as Italy’s Sara Simeoni had legally cleared 2.01. The last competition for this queen of the straddle was the Moscow Olympics, where she placed fourth.

Ackermann initially was trained as a specialist textile saleswoman in Cottbus, then as a domestic trade-employee staff economist at the Consumer Federation of Cooperatives in the footwear industry. Since 1990 she has worked as an assistant in the Employment Office at Cottbus.

Personal Best: HJ – 2.00 (1977).