Sigrun Wodars

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sigrun Wodars (born November 7, 1965) is a former East German middle distance athlete.

Born Sigrun Ludwigs in Neu-Kaliß, she started out as a 400 m runner in Schwerin, and proved successful in this event in junior meets. She then switched clubs and changed to the 800 m like her new club mate, Christine Wachtel, who would also become her closest rival.

Now competing under the name of Wodards, she won her first national title in 1986, and placed second at the European Championships in Stuttgart, behind Nadezhda Olisarenko of the Soviet Union.

The following year, she lost the world indoor title to Wachtel, but took revenge at the outdoor World Championships, defeating her in a close finish. The two repeated their one-two finish at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul.

Wodars completed her set of titles by also winning the 1990 European Championships in Split, her last title. She divorced and took part as Sigrun Grau in the 1991 World Championships and the 1992 Olympics, but failed to make it through the preliminaries both times. She retired after the Barcelona Olympics, and currently works as a physiotherapist.