Gunhild Hoffmeister

Gunhild Hoffmeister

Hoffmeister at the 1972 Olympics
Personal information
Born	(1944-07-06) 6 July 1944 (age 80) Forst, Germany
Height	172 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	800 m, 1500 m
Club	SC Cottbus
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	800 m – 1:58.61 (1976) 1500 m – 4:01.4 (1976)[1]
Medal record Representing  East Germany Olympic Games 1972 Munich 1500 m 1976 Montreal 1500 m 1972 Munich 800 m European Championships 1974 Rome 1500 m 1971 Helsinki 1500 m 1974 Rome 800 m European Indoor Championships 1972 Grenoble 800 m 1974 Gothenburg 800 m

Gunhild Hoffmeister (born 6 July 1944) is a retired German middle-distance runner. She competed at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics and won two silver and one bronze medal, becoming the only German distance runner to win three Olympic medals. Together with Hans Grodotzki, she is the only German runner to win two medals at the same Olympics. Her personal best time in 1,500 metres was 4:01.4, achieved in July 1976 in Potsdam. This places her ninth on the German all-time list.^[2]

At the European Championships, Hoffmeister won five medals between 1971 and 1974: three outdoors and two indoors. She also won the European Cup in 1973 and placed second in 1970. Domestically, she collected 15 outdoor and two indoor East German titles. She set three world records: in the 1,000 m in 1972 and in two 4 × 800 m relays in 1969 and 1976.^[3]

Hoffmeister was a sports teacher by training and after retiring from competitions became deputy chief of the Children and Youth School in Cottbus. She was also active in politics and was a member of East German Parliament in 1971–76. Until the German reunification in 1990, she served as a board member of the East German Sports Federation, and after that worked as a sports rehabilitation therapist in Berlin. Her daughter Kerstin also became a competitive runner.^[3]