Pentathlon, Women

This was probably the closest international competition ever in women’s multi-events. After four events, 62 points separated the top six places, with Siegrun Siegl (GDR) in seventh place, 70 points behind the leader, 1974 European Champion Nadezhda Tkachenko. In the final event, 200 metres, Siegl bettered the field with 23.09 seconds, almost 4/10ths faster than the second-placed runner, Christine Bodner-Laser. That moved Siegl and Bodner-Laser into a tie with 4,745 points. Based on the rules for multi-events (at the time), Siegl was declared the gold medalist because she had bettered Bodner-Laser in three of the five events, the tie-breaker. Burglinde Pollak won her second consecutive bronze medal in the event, which gave the GDR a medal sweep.