Karin Krebs

Karin Krebs

Krebs at the 1972 Olympics

Personal information

Born

18 August 1943 (age 80)
Gumbinnen, Germany

Height

167 cm (5 ft 6 in)

Weight

51 kg (112 lb)

Sport

Athletics

Event

1500 m

Club

SC Dynamo Berlin

Achievements and titles

Personal best(s)

800 m – 2:00.1 (1971)
1500 m – 4:04.11 (1972)^[1]

Medal record

Representing East Germany

European Athletics Championships
	1971 Helsinki	1500 m
European Athletics Indoor Championships
	1968 Madrid	800 m
	1974 Gothenburg	1500 m

Karin Krebs (née Burneleit, born 18 August 1943) is a retired East German middle-distance runner. She won the 800 metres race at the 1968 European Indoor Games, but failed to reach the 800 m Olympic final the same year. She then focused on the 1500 m event and won it at the 1971 European Championships, setting a new world record at 4:09.6 minutes. She placed fourth at the 1972 Olympics, and her world record was broken earlier in July 1972 by the future Olympic gold medalist Lyudmila Bragina.^[2] Krebs had her last intentional success in 1974 when she won the silver medal over 1500 m at the European Indoor Championships.^[3]

Domestically Krebs won the East German 800 m title in 1968 outdoors^[4] and in 1966 and 1968 indoors.^[5] She also held the national 1500 m indoor title in 1971 and 1974.^[6]

While passing the gender test at the 1968 Olympics Krebs learned that she was three-month pregnant. After the 1972 Olympics she married her teammate, long-distance runner Joachim Krebs. Their daughter Nadja (born 1976) also became a runner. Krebs was a horticulturist by profession, but worked for the East German Track and Field Association. After the Unification of Germany in 1990 she became a self-employed sports and event manager.^[3]