View source for Karin Balzer

{{Short description|East German hurdler (1938–2019)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{expand German|topic=bio|date=December 2021|Karin Balzer}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name             = 
| nickname         = 
| image            = Bundesarchiv Bild 183-B1002-0014-001, Karin Balzer.jpg
| image_size       = 
| caption          = Karin Balzer at the East German track and field athletics Olympic preselections in [[Halle an der Saale]] in October 1963
| birth_date       = {{birth-date|5 June 1938}}
| birth_place      = [[Magdeburg]], Germany
| death_date       = {{death-date and age|17 December 2019|5 June 1938}}
| death_place      = 
| height           = {{convert|1.71|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
| weight           = {{convert|64|kg|lb|abbr=on}}
| sport            = Athletics
| event            = 80, 100 m hurdles
| club             = SC DHfK<br /> SC Leipzig
| pb               = 80 mH – 10.61 (1968)<br /> 100 mH – 12.6 (1971)
| alma_mater       = 
| show-medals      = yes
| medaltemplates   = 
{{MedalCountry | {{EUA}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Olympic Games]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1964 Summer Olympics|1964 Tokyo]] | [[Athletics at the 1964 Summer Olympics – Women's 80 metre hurdles|80 m hurdles]] }}
{{MedalCountry | {{GDR}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[Olympic Games]] }}
{{MedalBronze | [[1972 Summer Olympics|1972 Munich]] | [[Athletics at the 1972 Summer Olympics – Women's 100 metres hurdles|100 m hurdles]] }}
{{MedalCompetition | [[European Championships in Athletics|European Championships]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1966 European Championships in Athletics|1966 Budapest]] | [[1966 European Athletics Championships – Women's 80 metres hurdles|80 m hurdles]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1969 European Championships in Athletics|1969 Athens]] | [[1969 European Athletics Championships – Women's 100 metres hurdles|100 m hurdles]] }}
{{MedalGold | [[1971 European Championships in Athletics|1971 Helsinki]] | [[1971 European Athletics Championships – Women's 100 metres hurdles|100 m hurdles]] }}
{{MedalSilver | [[1962 European Championships in Athletics|1962 Belgrade]] | [[1962 European Athletics Championships – Women's 80 metres hurdles|80 m hurdles]] }}
{{MedalSilver | [[1971 European Championships in Athletics|1971 Helsinki]] | [[1971 European Athletics Championships – Women's 4 × 100 metres relay|4 × 100 m relay]] }}
}}

'''Karin Balzer''' (''[[née]]'' '''Richert'''; 5 June 1938 – 17 December 2019)<ref>{{cite web |title=European Athletics - 1964 Olympic champion Balzer dies at the age of 81 |url=https://www.european-athletics.org/news/article=1964-olympic-champion-balzer-dies-the-age/index.html |website=european-athletics |access-date=18 December 2019 |language=en |date=18 December 2019}}</ref> was an [[East Germany|East German]] [[hurdling|hurdler]] who competed in the 80 m hurdles event at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics, and in the 100 m hurdles in 1972. She won a gold medal in 1964 and a bronze in 1972, while finishing fifth in 1968. During her career she set 37 world's best performances.<ref name=sr />

==Biography==
She was born Karin Richert in [[Magdeburg]], and competed in several [[track and field]] events in her teens. She showed her best results in the 80 m hurdles and qualified for the [[1960 Summer Olympics]]. The [[United Team of Germany]] then included athletes of both East and [[West Germany]]. She finished fourth in her Olympic semifinal and narrowly missed the final.<ref name=sr />

The following year, she married her coach, retired pole vaulter, Karl-Heinz Balzer. Some years earlier, they had briefly fled the DDR, but had returned weeks later. Now competing as Karin Balzer, she won her first international medal, silver, at the [[1962 European Athletics Championships]]. In 1964, she tied the [[world record]] in the hurdles during a [[women's pentathlon|pentathlon]] competition. Despite showing good results she never competed in pentathlon at major meets.

At the [[1964 Summer Olympics|Tokyo Olympics]] that same year, she placed first in the final of the 80 m hurdles. In a close finish, the first three runners all timed 10.5 seconds, equal to the world record (although the record was not ratified due to a wind). Electronic timing showed Balzer had beaten the two other medalists by one and two hundredths of a second, respectively.<ref name=sr2 />

Two years later, Balzer won a second title at the [[1966 European Athletics Championships]], and then placed fifth in the 1968 [[1968 Summer Olympics|Olympic]] final; she was the [[List of flag bearers for East Germany at the Olympics|Olympic flag bearer for East Germany]] at those Games. That was the last major event in which the high hurdles were run over 80 m; from 1969 on, the event became the 100 m. Balzer set the inaugural world record in that event, in June 1969, then subsequently lowered it twice during that same year. She also successfully defended her European title in [[Athens]], which she repeated in [[Helsinki]] in 1971.<ref name=sr /> That year she was voted [[German Sportspersonality of the Year]].

While in training for the [[1972 Summer Olympics]] in [[Munich]], Balzer's son, Andreas was involved in an accident, and was comatised. He died the day before the final of the 100 m hurdles, but her husband did not tell her until after the race, in which she won her second Olympic medal, bronze.<ref name=sr /> Balzer's second son, [[Falk Balzer]] (born 1973)<ref name=bio /> also became a hurdler. His best achievement was a second place in the 110 m hurdles at the 1998 European Championships.<ref name=bio />

Balzer was trained as a chemist, and worked as a lab technician from 1955 to 1961. From 1961 until 1976 she was a sports school teacher in [[Frankfurt]] and then in [[Leipzig]]. In parallel, from 1970 to 1976 she studied at [[:de:Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur|Deutsche Hochschule für Körperkultur (DHfK)]] and earned a degree in physical education, and from 1973 to 1976 coached athletics at [[SC Leipzig]] together with her husband. They were suspended in 1976 after refusing to administer [[anabolic steroids]] to their trainees, and moved to Dresden, where Balzer worked as a school teacher through the 1970s and 80s. From 1991 to 1993 she lectured at the BAW Saxony, and from 1994 to 1997 at the Cologne business school. In 1997 Karin and Karl Balzer were reinstated as athletics coaches.<ref name=sr /> Karl died in 2007.<ref name=bio />

==References==
{{reflist|refs=
<ref name=sr>{{cite Sports-Reference |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/karin-richert-balzer-1.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417103121/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ri/karin-richert-balzer-1.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2020-04-17}}</ref>
<ref name=sr2>[https://web.archive.org/web/20200417175203/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/summer/1964/ATH/womens-80-metres-hurdles.html Athletics at the 1964 Tokyo Summer Games: Women's 80 metres Hurdles]. sports-reference.com</ref>
<ref name=bio>[http://www.karin-balzer.com/1.html Personal website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191220100801/http://www.karin-balzer.com/1.html |date=20 December 2019 }}. karin-balzer.com {{in lang|de}}</ref>
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070929150949/http://www.databaseolympics.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=BALZEKAR01 dataOlympics profile]

{{S-start}}
{{S-ach|rec}}
{{succession box
| before = {{Flag icon|POL}} [[Teresa Sukniewicz]]
| title = [[100 metres hurdles#History|Women's 100 m Hurdles World Record Holder]]
| years = 20 June 1969 – 20 June 1970
| after = {{Flag icon|POL}} [[Teresa Sukniewicz]]
}}
{{succession box
| before = {{Flag icon|POL}} [[Teresa Sukniewicz]]
| title = [[100 metres hurdles#History|Women's 100 m Hurdles World Record Holder]]
| years = 26 July 1970 – 28 June 1972
| after = {{Flag icon|AUS}} [[Pam Kilborn|Pam Ryan]]
}}
{{S-ach}}
{{succession box
| before = {{Flag icon|GDR}} [[Erika Zuchold]]
| title = [[German Sportspersonality of the year|East German Sportswoman of the Year]]
| years = 1971
| after = {{Flag icon|GDR}} [[Karin Janz]]
}}
{{S-sports}}
{{succession box
| before = {{Flag icon|ROC}} [[Chi Cheng (athlete)|Chi Cheng]]
| title = [[100 metres hurdles#Best Year Performance|Women's 100 m Hurdles Best Year Performance]]
| years = 1971
| after = {{Flag icon|GDR}} [[Anneliese Ehrhardt]]
}}
{{S-end}}

{{Footer_Olympic_Champions_80_m_hurdles_Women}}
{{Footer European Champions 80 m hurdles Women}}
{{Footer European Champions 100 m hurdles Women}}
{{Footer European Indoor Champions 60m Hurdles Women}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Balzer, Karin}}
[[Category:1938 births]]
[[Category:2019 deaths]]
[[Category:Athletes from Magdeburg]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from the Province of Saxony]]
[[Category:German women hurdlers]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for the United Team of Germany]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for East Germany]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United Team of Germany]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany]]
[[Category:World record setters in the sport of athletics]]
[[Category:European Athletics Championships medalists]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1964 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics]]
[[Category:Olympic bronze medalists in athletics]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold]]
[[Category:Athletes from Bezirk Magdeburg]]
[[Category:East German women hurdlers]]
[[Category:SC Leipzig athletes]]
[[Category:East German sports coaches]]
[[Category:SC DHfK Leipzig athletes]]
[[Category:East German Athletics Championships winners]]