Ulrike Meyfarth

Biographical information

RolesCompeted in Olympic Games • Other
SexFemale
Full nameUlrike•Meyfarth (-Nasse)
Used nameUlrike•Meyfarth
Born4 May 1956 in Frankfurt am Main, Hessen (GER)
Measurements188 cm / 70 kg
AffiliationsTV Wesseling, Wesseling (GER) / ASV Köln, Köln (GER) / Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Leverkusen (GER)
NOC West Germany
Medals OG
Gold 2
Silver 0
Bronze 0
Total 2

Biography

Ulrike Meyfarth was a skier before turning to athletics. She won the 1972 Olympic high jump when only 16-years-old, still the youngest Olympic high jump champion (through 2020), and when she returned to win again in 1984 at Los Angeles, she became, at the time, the oldest Olympic high jump champion. Although she competed at Montreal in 1976 she did not qualify for the final round. In 1983 Meyfarth was runner-up at the World Championships and she won the 1981 World Cup. Outdoors, Meyfarth took part in four European Championships, winning in 1982 after not making the final in 1971, and placing seventh in1974 and fifth in 1978. She competed in five European Indoor Championships, winning twice, in 1982 and 1984. She won 16 national titles, and also bettered the world record three times, with a best of 2.03 metres in 1983.

Meyfarth was a very popular sportswoman in West Germany. She was elected Sportswoman of the Year in 1981, 1982, 1983, and 1984, received the 1983 Rudolf Harbig Memorial Award, was awarded the 1984 BAMBI TV-prize, the 1972 Sports Badge of North Rhine Westphalia, and in November 1999 was appointed to the IAAF Athletes Commission. In February 1987 she married the lawyer and former handball player Roland-Frank Nasse. She studied as a sports teacher and worked as a coach at her home club TSVB Bayer 04 Leverkusen. In 2004, the former “Kronenbuschstadion” in Wesseling was renamed as the “Ulrike-Meyfarth-Stadion”. In 2011 Meyfarth was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame.

Personal Best: HJ – 2.03 (1983).

Results

Games Discipline (Sport) / Event NOC / Team Pos Medal As
1972 Summer Olympics Athletics FRG Ulrike Meyfarth
High Jump, Women (Olympic) 1 Gold
1976 Summer Olympics Athletics FRG Ulrike Meyfarth
High Jump, Women (Olympic) =22 r1/2
1984 Summer Olympics Athletics FRG Ulrike Meyfarth
High Jump, Women (Olympic) 1 Gold

Other participations

Games Role NOC As
1984 Summer Olympics Flagbearer at the Closing Ceremony FRG Ulrike Meyfarth

Special Notes