Christa Merten (née Basche; 14 October 1944, Dobbertin,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

– 1 July 1986,

Marbella Marbella ( , , ) is a city and municipality in southern Spain, belonging to the province of Málaga in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is part of the Costa del Sol and is the headquarters of the Association of Municipalities of the r ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

), was a

West German West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

athlete and Olympian who competed for West Germany in the 1960s and 70s in the

800 __NOTOC__ Year 800 ( DCCC) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. It was around this time that the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years, so f ...

1500 Year 1500 ( MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar. The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, who thought i ...

and 3000 meter runs and in cross country running. She committed

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and ...

in 1986. On July 31, 1971, she set a world record in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

with Ellen Tittel,

Sylvia Schenk Sylvia Schenk (born 1 June 1952) is a German middle-distance runner. She competed in the women's 800 metres at the 1972 Summer Olympics for West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of German ...

, and

Hildegard Falck Hildegard Falck (née ''Janze'' on 8 June 1949) is a retired West German runner. At the 1972 Olympics she won a gold medal in the 800 m and a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay with West German team. In the 800 m final she finished 0.1 seconds ...

in the 800 meter relay. Merten started the 1500 meter run at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

and the 800 meter run at the

1971 European Athletics Championships The 10th (X) European Athletics Championships were held from 10 August to 15 August 1971 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. Contemporaneous reports on the event were given in the Glasgow Herald. Men's results ...

, but failed to reach the finals. She won the silver medal with the relay in the 2000m medley relay with Elfgard Schittenhelm, and with a time of 5:01.1 minutes at the

1970 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1970 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in 1970 at Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna, the capital of Austria, between 14–15 March 1970. It replaced the European Indoor Games, an indoor athletics competition which had been held since 1 ...

. At the

1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 1972 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held between 11–12 March 1972 in Grenoble, France. The track used for the championships was 180 metres long. Medal summary Men Women Medal table Participating nations * (6) * (4) * ( ...

, she earned fourth place at the 800 meter dash. A German Championship of the Federal Republic, she won with the 3 × 800 m season of

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

, 1970 in the short cross-country race, 1965, 1966 and 1970 with the cross-country team and 1973 in the 3000 meter run (9:23.0 min). From 1970 to 1973, she broke four German records of the Federal Republic in the 1000, 1500 and 3000 meter run. Merten was 1.68 m tall and weighed 54 kg in her time as an active athlete. Until 1964, she belonged to the sports club

SC Charlottenburg SCC Berlin is a German sports club based in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin and founded in 1902 as ''Charlottenburger Sport-Club 1902''. In 1911, they merged with ''Sport-Club Westen 05'' and changed their club colors from yellow and blue ...

, then

ASV Köln Athletik-Sport-Verein Köln e.V. is a multi-sports club from Cologne, Germany. It has sections for rugby union, athletics, triathlon and karate General history The club was formed on 27 February 1929, under the name of Akademischen Sportverein K� ...

and finally from 1971 onward,

Bayer 04 Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, ...

References

Further reading