Göhr, Marlies (1958—)

views updated

Göhr, Marlies (1958—)

East German runner. Name variations: Marlies Goehr-Oelsner; Marlies Gohr. Born on March 21, 1958, in East Germany; married.

For seven years, from 1977 to 1983, Marlies Göhr was one of the fastest runners in the women's 100-meter race in the world, but she never won an Olympic gold medal in her specialty. Göhr, whose chief rival was Evelyn Ashford , held the world record in the 100 with a time of 10.81 and beat the 11-second clock nine times. In the Montreal Olympics in 1976, 18-year-old Göhr won a gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay but finished 8th in the 100 meters. In the Moscow Olympics in 1980, minus competitor Ashford, she won a silver medal in the 100 meters (beaten by a hundredth of a second by Russia's Lyudmila Kondratyeva ) and a gold medal in the 4x100-meter relay. In the Seoul Olympics in 1988, Göhr won a silver medal in the 4x100-meter relay. She also took the 100 meters in the European Championships in 1978 and 1982 and placed first in the World Cup in 1977.