Pentathlon, Women

At the 1971 European Championships, Heide Rosendahl had narrowly defeated Burglinde Pollak by 24 points, and they were the two favorites in München. In the second event, Mary Peters of Northern Ireland had the longest shot put (16.20) and moved into the lead. She also led the high jump with 1.82 (5-11½) and had a big lead after day one with Pollan second, while Rosendahl was in fifth place. The second day started with the long jump, and Rosendahl, who had won the individual long jump, led with a superb 6.83 (22-5) effort, but she was still over 100 points down to Peters. Rosendahl was also a good sprinter, and he 22.96 allowed her set a “world record” of 4,791 points, but Peters crossed the line 1.12 seconds later and bettered that mark with 4,801 points to win the gold medal.