Birth Place: | Gumbinnen, Germany |
Height: | 167 cm |
Weight: | 51 kg |
Sport: | Athletics |
Event: | 1500 m |
Pb: | 800 m – 2:00.1 (1971) 1500 m – 4:04.11 (1972)[1] |
Club: | SC Dynamo Berlin |
Show-Medals: | yes |
Karin Krebs (Burneleit, born 18 August 1943) is a retired East German middle-distance runner. She won the 800 metres race at the 1968 European Indoor Games, but failed to reach the 800 m Olympic final the same year. She then focused on the 1500 m event and won it at the 1971 European Championships, setting a new world record at 4:09.6 minutes. She placed fourth at the 1972 Olympics, and her world record was broken earlier in July 1972 by the future Olympic gold medalist Lyudmila Bragina.[2] Krebs had her last intentional success in 1974 when she won the silver medal over 1500 m at the European Indoor Championships.
Domestically Krebs won the East German 800 m title in 1968 outdoors[3] and in 1966 and 1968 indoors.[4] She also held the national 1500 m indoor title in 1971 and 1974.[5]
While passing the gender test at the 1968 Olympics Krebs learned that she was three-month pregnant. After the 1972 Olympics she married her teammate, long-distance runner Joachim Krebs. Their daughter Nadja (born 1976) also became a runner. Krebs was a horticulturist by profession, but worked for the East German Track and Field Association. After the Unification of Germany in 1990 she became a self-employed sports and event manager.[6]