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Although Marlies Gohr had been the reigning world record holder for
100m, she had been beaten at the 1979 World Cup by Evelyn Ashford (USA),
and by Lyudmila Kondratyeva (Soviet Union) at the 1980 Olympic Games.
Despite these disappointments, Marlies made a strong start to the 1981
season, and at Zagreb on 15 August, she won her third consecutive
European Cup 100m title in 11.17sec. On the same day, she anchored the 4
x 100m relay team to victory in 42.53sec, which was also her third
successive gold medal in that event. At the World Cup in Rome on 5
September, Gohr was again beaten by Ashford, as well as by Kathy
Smallwood (Great Britain), and Marlies had to settle for the bronze
medal. However, it was a different story in the 4 x 100m relay the
following day, where Gohr anchored the East German team to the gold
medal in the yearís fastest time of 42.22sec.
The following year, she
won her sixth consecutive East German 100m title on 1 July at Dresden in
a time of 10.91sec. Eight days later, Marlies equalled her world
record of 10.88sec in an East Germany v USA international match,
although she was denied the satisfaction of defeating Ashford, who was
not on the American team. This put Gohr in good form for the European
Championships held later that year in Athens, where she was the reigning
100m titleholder. In the 100m final, on 7 September, Gohr (see photo above)
blitzed the opposition to win comfortably in 11.01sec, to become the
first woman to win two gold medals in the 100m at the European
Championships. In the 4 x 100m relay final, held four days later, the
East German team continued their recent world dominance, with Gohr
anchoring the team to the gold medal in 42.19sec. (Ron Casey)
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