Ruth Fuchs, Olympic champion in javelin dies at 76

 

BERLIN – Javelin throw Olympic champion Ruth Fuchs has died at the age of 76, the German athletics association told dpa on Wednesday, citing her private circle.

The former athlete died early on Wednesday morning at the University Hospital in Jena, Germany. The cause of death was not disclosed.

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Fuchs was the first woman to throw a javelin over 60 metres. At the end of her career in competitive sport (from 1967 to 1980) she failed to reach the 70-metre-mark by four centimetres in her personal best throw of 69.96 metres.

Representing East Germany, she won Olympic gold in 1972 and 1976. She was known as “the womena with the iron arm.”

After retirement from sports, Fuchs became a member of parliament for the Party of Democratic Socialism (now the Left Party) in the re-united Germany.

In 1994, Fuchs admitted using steroids during her career. Her second husband and coach Karl Hellmann was considered a doping specialist in East Germany.

“Ruth didn’t mince her words. She was reliable, honest, her heart was in the right place. My heartfelt condolences to her relatives,” Left Party chairman Dietmar Bartsch wrote on social media platform X, formely known as Twitter.