Bärbel Wöckel

Bärbel Wöckel (née Eckert; born 21 March 1955) is a former East German sprinter. She never ran a world record in the individual disciplines. However, she ran several world records as part of relay teams with Doris Maletzki, Renate Stecher and Christina Heinich over 4 × 100 meters, the last time on September 8, 1974, in Rome. At the GDR Championships she took first place in the 4 × 100-meter relay in 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981 to 1984. In 1976 she won third place with the team.

Documents uncovered after the fall of communism showed that during this time, Wöckel, like many of her East German colleagues, was forced to participate in the state-organized doping program. Despite this, her records and medals have been allowed to stand.

Career Wöckel won four Olympic gold medals between the 200 metres race and 4 × 100 metres relay, two each in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. In each of those years, Wöckel placed first in the 200 m and 4 × 100 metres relay races. She won a gold medal at the 1974 European Championships as the anchor of the 4 × 100 m relay, which set a world record of 42.50.

In Athens, she won the gold in the 200 m and as a part of the 4 × 100 m relay team as well as a silver in the 100 metres at the 1982 European Championships.

Bärbel Wöckel competed for the club SC Motor Jena during her active career. She won 4 national 200 metre championships, as well as an indoor title in 1984. She won 3 European Cup titles in 1981, 200, 4 × 100, 4 × 400 metres. In the IAAF World Cup 1981 she won 2 Gold Medals in 4 × 100 and 4 × 400 relays. Also finishing 3rd in the 200.

Her rival, Marita Koch, complained in a letter that Bärbel received higher doses of steroids than her, because she had relatives in the company Jenapharm.

Awards 1974: Patriotic Order of Merit (German: Vaterländischer Verdienstorden, or VVO) in Bronze 1976: Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 1980 and 1984: Patriotic Order of Merit in gold 2018: DLV-Ehrennadel in gold