Betty Heidler

Betty Heidler (born 14 October 1983) is a retired German track and field athlete who competed in the hammer throw. She held the world record from 2011 until 2014 with her personal best throw of 79.42 m (260 ft 6 in). She is the 2012 Olympic silver medallist, the 2007 World champion and the 2009 and 2011 World Championship silver medallist. She also finished fourth in the Olympic finals in 2004 and 2016.

Betty Heidler

Heidler at the 2007 World Championships
Personal information
Nationality	German
Born	(1983-10-14) October 14, 1983 (age 42) East Berlin, East Germany
Education	Bachelor of Laws
Alma mater	University of Hagen
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)[1]
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)[1]
Sport
Country	Germany
Sport	Athletics
Event	Hammer throw
Club	LG Eintracht Frankfurt
Turned pro	2004
Coached by	Bernd Madler
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2012 Summer Olympics: Hammer throw – Silver
World finals	2007 Osaka: Hammer throw – Gold 2009 Berlin: Hammer throw – Silver 2011 Daegu: Hammer throw – Silver
Regional finals	2010 Barcelona: Hammer throw – Gold
Personal best	Hammer throw: 79.42 (2011, WR)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing Germany Olympic Games 2012 London Hammer throw World Championships 2007 Osaka Hammer throw 2009 Berlin Hammer throw 2011 Daegu Hammer throw European Championships 2010 Barcelona Hammer throw 2016 Amsterdam Hammer throw Universiade 2009 Belgrade Hammer throw
Updated on 13 August 2012

Career

Heidler now lives in Frankfurt and is a member of the Eintracht Frankfurt athletics team. She works for the German Federal Police where she is a member of the sports support group and started studying Bachelor of Laws at the Fernuniversität Hagen in 2007.

She put in a dominant performance at the 2010 European Cup Winter Throwing with a winning mark of 72.48 m, beating her nearest rival by more than three metres.^[2]

Heidler won the inaugural IAAF Hammer Throw Challenge in 2010, finishing at the top of the rankings ahead of Anita Wlodarczyk.^[3] She won the gold medal at the 2010 European Athletics Championships then went on to take the silver medal at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics. In May 2011, in Halle, she achieved a new world record hammer throw, of 79.42 m.^[4] She began the 2012 season with a series of wins, performing at the Colorful Daegu Meeting, Golden Spike Ostrava, and Prefontaine Classic.^[5]

Heidler won a medal at the 2012 London Olympics. The event was not without controversy as the referees first failed to correctly measure Heidler's bronze-winning throw.^[6] She was later promoted to the silver medal position, after Tatyana Lysenko was disqualified for a doping violation in 2016 in reanalysis of her stored doping samples.^[7]

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing Germany
2000	World Junior Championships	Santiago, Chile	19th (q)	52.18 m
2002	World Junior Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	17th (q)	53.82 m
2003	European U23 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	4th	66.49 m
	World Championships	Paris, France	11th	65.81 m
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	4th	72.73 m
	World Athletics Final	Szombathely, Hungary	6th	69.65 m
2005	European U23 Championships	Erfurt, Germany	2nd	69.64 m
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	29th (q)	61.91 m
	World Athletics Final	Szombathely, Hungary	6th	69.95 m
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	5th	70.89 m
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	1st	75.44 m (CR)
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	1st	74.76 m
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	9th	70.06 m
	World Athletics Final	Stuttgart, Germany	5th	69.72 m
2009	Universiade	Belgrade, Serbia	1st	75.83 m (GR)
	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	2nd	77.12 m (NR)
	World Athletics Final	Thessaloniki, Greece	1st	72.03 m
2010	European Cup Winter Throwing	Arles, France	1st	72.48 m
	European Championships	Barcelona, Spain	1st	76.38 m
2011	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	2nd	76.06 m
2012	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	17th (q)	65.06 m
	Olympic Games	London, Great Britain	2nd	77.13 m
2013	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	18th (q)	68.83 m
2014	European Championships	Zürich, Switzerland	5th	72.39 m
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	7th	72.56 m
2016	European Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	2nd	75.77 m
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	4th	73.71 m