Bettine Jahn (née Gärtz, born 3 August 1958) is an

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

hurdler. She became a world champion in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

and a world record holder in the

60 metres hurdles 60 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling which is generally run in indoor competitions. It is equivalent with the first 5 hurdles of a standard outdoor hurdle race. The current women's and men's world records are 7.65 seconds (Devynne Ch ...

Career

She was born in

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

and represented the club

SC Karl-Marx-Stadt SC Karl-Marx-Stadt was a sports club located at Karl-Marx-Stadt in the German Democratic Republic. Established in 1945, the sports club went through a variation of name changes until 1 July 1963, settling with SC Karl-Marx-Stadt, which lasted unt ...

. Her biggest achievement was to win the 100-meter hurdles at the 1983 World Championships in Helsinki. She also won the silver medal at the 1982 European Indoor Championships and the gold medal at the 1983 European Indoor Championships, as well as the 1983 European Cup Super League meet. She finished seventh at the 1980 Olympic Games and fourth at the 1982 European Championships, only 0.01 seconds behind compatriot Kerstin Knabe. She won the East German championships in 1982 and 1983, the East German indoor championships in 1980 and 1983, and also the open 1983 Hungarian indoor championships. She set an indoor world record for the 60 metres hurdles in 1983. She is still the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

record holder for the 100 metres hurdles with 12.42 seconds.

Personal life

She married in January 1983 and was initially referred to as Bettine Jahn-Gärtz in the media but later Bettine Jahn.

References

1958 births Living people Athletes from Magdeburg Athletes from Bezirk Magdeburg German female hurdlers Olympic athletes for East Germany Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for East Germany World Athletics Championships medalists Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold World Athletics Championships winners East German Athletics Championships winners SC Karl-Marx-Stadt athletes 20th-century German sportswomen {{East Germany-athletics-bio-stub