Betty Heidler (born 14 October 1983) is a retired German

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who competed in the

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

. She held the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book '' Guinness World Records'' and other world records organizati ...

from 2011 until 2014 with her personal best throw of 79.42 m (260 ft 6 in). She is the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, the 2007 World champion and the 2009 and 2011 World Championship silver medallist. She also finished fourth in the Olympic finals in 2004 and 2016.

Career

She now lives in Frankfurt and is a member of the

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...

athletics team. She works for the

German Federal Police The Federal Police (''Bundespolizei'' or BPOL) is the national and principal federal law enforcement agency of the German Federal Government, being subordinate to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Building and Community (''Bundesminister ...

where she is a member of the sports support group and started studying

Bachelor of Laws Bachelor of Laws ( la, Legum Baccalaureus; LL.B.) is an undergraduate law degree in the United Kingdom and most common law jurisdictions. Bachelor of Laws is also the name of the law degree awarded by universities in the People's Republic of ...

at the

Fernuniversität Hagen The University of Hagen (german: link=no, FernUniversität in Hagen, informally often referred to as FU Hagen) is a public research university that is primarily focused on distance teaching. While its main campus is located in Hagen, North Rh ...

in 2007. She put in a dominant performance at the

2010 European Cup Winter Throwing The 2010 European Cup Winter Throwing was held on 20 and 21 March 2010 at the Stade Fernand Fournier in Arles, France. It was the tenth edition of the athletics competition for throwing events and it was organised by the European Athletics Asso ...

with a winning mark of 72.48 m, beating her nearest rival by more than three metres. Heidler won the inaugural

IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge The IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge was an annual hammer throw series, organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) from 2010 until the end of 2019 season. The series of hammer throw competitions for men and women were pri ...

in 2010, finishing at the top of the rankings ahead of

Anita Wlodarczyk Anita or ANITA may refer to: Arts * ''Anita'' (1967 film), an Indian film * ''Anita'' (2009 film), an Argentine film * ''Anita'' (2021 film), a Hong Kong film *'' Anita: Swedish Nymphet'', a 1973 erotic film People * Anita (given name), people ...

. She won the gold medal at the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

then went on to take the silver medal at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

. In May 2011, in Halle, she achieved a new world record in hammer throw, with a result of 79.42 m. She began the 2012 season with a series of wins, performing at the Colorful Daegu Meeting,

Golden Spike Ostrava Golden Spike ( cz, Zlatá tretra) is an annual athletics event at the Městský Stadion in Ostrava- Vítkovice, Czech Republic as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1961. The history of the meeting was interru ...

, and

Prefontaine Classic The Prefontaine Classic, an Oregon Track Club event, is one of the premier track and field meets in the United States, held in Eugene, Oregon. Every year it draws a world caliber field to compete at Hayward Field on the campus of the Univers ...

. Heidler won a medal at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. The event was not without controversy as the referees first failed to correctly measure Heidler's bronze-winning throw. She was then later promoted to the silver medal position, after

Tatyana Lysenko Tatyana Viktorovna Lysenko (russian: Татьяна Викторовна Лысенко, born 9 October 1983 in Bataysk) is a Russian hammer thrower. Her career has been blighted by repeated doping infractions. In February 2019, the Court of ...

was disqualified for a doping violation in 2016.

Achievements

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Heidler, Betty 1983 births Living people Athletes from Berlin German female hammer throwers German national athletics champions Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Germany Eintracht Frankfurt athletes World record setters in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Germany Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade gold medalists for Germany Olympic silver medalists for Germany World Athletics Championships winners IAAF World Athletics Final winners Medalists at the 2009 Summer Universiade