Heike Henkel Explained

Heike Henkel (pronounced as /de/; born Heike Redetzky; 5 May 1964) is a German former athlete competing in high jump. She was Olympic, World and European champion. She won the high jump gold medal at the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Biography

Henkel was born in Kiel, Schleswig-Holstein. Having competed for West Germany at the Olympic Games in 1984 and 1988, she emerged as the world's leading female high jumper of the early 1990s. As well as her Olympic triumph, Henkel won World, World Indoor, European and European Indoor titles. She is one of only three female high jumpers in history (until August, 2021) to have won all five titles, the other two being Stefka Kostadinova and Mariya Lasitskene. She was also very successful at the Hochsprung mit Musik meeting, taking the title three times consecutively from 1991 to 1993 and securing a record fourth win in 1995.

From 1989 to 2001, she was married to swimmer Rainer Henkel. On 30 April 2004 she married decathlete Paul Meier.

Competition record

Representing
1981	European Junior Championships	Utrecht, Netherlands	5th	1.84 m
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	11th	1.85 m
1986	European Championships	Stuttgart, West Germany	6th	1.90 m
1987	European Indoor Championships	Liévin, France	5th	1.91 m
	World Indoor Championships	Indianapolis, United States	6th	1.91 m
	World Championships	Rome, Italy	6th	1.96 m
1988	European Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	bgcolor=silver	2nd	1.97 m
	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	13th (q)	1.90 m
1989	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	3rd	1.94 m
1990	European Indoor Championships	Glasgow, United Kingdom	bgcolor=gold	1st	2.00 m
	European Championships	Split, Yugoslavia	bgcolor=gold	1st	1.99 m
Representing
1991	World Indoor Championships	Seville, Spain	bgcolor=gold	1st	2.00 m
	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	bgcolor=gold	1st	2.05 m
1992	European Indoor Championships	Genoa, Italy	bgcolor=gold	1st	2.02 m
	Olympic Games	Barcelona, Spain	bgcolor=gold	1st	2.02 m
1993	World Indoor Championships	Toronto, Canada	bgcolor=silver	2nd	2.02 m
	World Championships	Stuttgart, Germany	11th (q)	1.90 m
1994	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	11th	1.85 m
1995	World Indoor Championships	Barcelona, Spain	3rd	1.99 m
	World Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	16th (q)	1.93 m
2000	European Indoor Championships	Ghent, Belgium	8th	1.85 m

Note: Henkel was forced to withdraw from the 1993 World Championship final due to injury, having cleared 1.90 m in the qualifying round.

See also

• Female two metres club

External links

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