Heike Drechsler

Heike Drechsler is a German former track-and-field athlete who won Olympic long-jump gold medals in 1992 and 2000, competing first for East Germany and later for Germany.

1992 Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympic Games held in Barcelona, where Heike Drechsler won the women's long jump. Her first Olympic long-jump gold came in Barcelona.
Marita Koch: A former East German sprinter who set the women's 400-metre world record in 1985. Koch was a prominent East German teammate during Drechsler's early career.
East Germany: A socialist state that existed in eastern Germany from 1949 until German reunification in 1990. Drechsler developed as an elite athlete under East Germany's sports system.
Long jump: A track-and-field event in which athletes sprint, take off from a board, and jump as far as possible into a sand pit. It was the event in which Drechsler won both Olympic gold medals.
2000 Summer Olympics: The Summer Olympic Games held in Sydney, where Heike Drechsler won the women's long jump. Her second Olympic long-jump gold came eight years after her first.
Jürgen Schult: A former East German discus thrower who set the men's discus world record in 1986. Schult and Drechsler were leading athletes in East German track and field.
German reunification: The 1990 process by which East Germany joined the Federal Republic of Germany. Reunification changed the national team Drechsler represented.
200 metres: A sprint race covering half a standard outdoor athletics track. Drechsler also became a world champion in this event early in her career.
1983 World Championships in Athletics: The inaugural World Athletics Championships, held in Helsinki in 1983. Drechsler won the long jump at the first World Championships.
Jackie Joyner-Kersee: An American track-and-field athlete and Olympic champion in the heptathlon and long jump. She was Drechsler's major rival in the long jump and heptathlon.

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