Gisela Kinzel, née Gottwald (born 17 May 1961 in

Kirchhellen Bottrop () is a city in west-central Germany, on the Rhine–Herne Canal, in North Rhine-Westphalia. Located in the Ruhr industrial area, Bottrop adjoins Essen, Oberhausen, Gladbeck, and Dorsten. The city had been a coal-mining and rail cente ...

) is a retired athlete who represented

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. She specialized in

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

, and competed for the clubs VfL Gladbeck and

SC Eintracht Hamm SC Eintracht Hamm was a German association football club from the town of Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia. The club's greatest success has been its two championships in the tier three Oberliga Westfalen in 1982–83, 1984–85. This entitled the ...

Competition Results

Her biggest success came in

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

at the 1986 European Championships, where she won the silver medal, with the West German national team. The team consisted of Gisela Kinzel, Ute Thimm,

Heidi-Elke Gaugel Heidi-Elke Gaugel (born 11 July 1959 in Schönaich) is a retired female German athlete who specialized in the 400 m. Biography Gaugel competed for West Germany at the 1984 Summer Olympics, held in Los Angeles, United States, where she wo ...

and

Gaby Bußmann Gaby Bußmann (born 8 October 1959 in Haltern) is a German athlete who specialized in the 400 metres. She competed for West Germany at the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles, U.S. where she won the bronze medal in the women's 4 × 400 ...

. In addition she helped finish sixth at the 1983 World Championships. She was fifth at the 1987 World Championships. She ran in the heats at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

. Kinzel won a silver medal for the 400 metre category at the 1987 European Indoor Championships.

Doping

Hans-Jörg Kinzel, Gisela's husband and coach, admitted to administering steroids to his wife.

References

* 1961 births Living people Sportspeople from Bottrop Athletes from Münster (region) West German female sprinters West German female long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for West Germany World Athletics Championships athletes for West Germany SC Eintracht Hamm athletes West German Athletics Championships winners {{West Germany-athletics-bio-stub