Lina Radke, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death

    

Lina Radke

German middle distance runner

Date of Birth: 18-Oct-1903

Place of Birth: Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Date of Death: 14-Feb-1983

Profession: athletics competitor, middle-distance runner

Nationality: Germany

Zodiac Sign: Libra


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About Lina Radke

  • Karoline "Lina" Radke-Batschauer (18 October 1903 – 14 February 1983) was a German track and field athlete.
  • She was the first Olympic champion in the 800 m for women. Born as Lina Batschauer, she started competing in athletics at the age of 20.
  • In those years sports such as running were considered far too exhausting for women.
  • This vision was shared by many, including the originator of the modern Olympic movement, Pierre de Coubertin. In 1927, she married Georg Radke, who was her coach and a manager of her club SC Baden-Baden.
  • The couple moved to Georg's hometown of Breslau (now Wroclaw in Poland), where in 1927 Lina Radke set her first 800 m world record.
  • Together with her husband, Lina Radke was one of the pioneers of female athletics in the mid-1920s.
  • Competitions for women were not held frequently, but Radke nevertheless won several regional and national titles.
  • She first specialised in the 1000 m, but when this was changed into the 800 m (because that distance would be held at the upcoming 1928 Summer Olympics), she switched to that event.
  • The highlight of Radke's career were those 1928 Summer Olympics, as she won the inaugural title in the 800 m, earning the first German gold medal in athletics.
  • Along the way, she set the first officially recognised world record in that event, 2:16.8, which would last until 1944.
  • The IOC was however not pleased with the fact that several of Radke's competitors had been totally exhausted after the race, and decided to banish the event from the Games; it would not be included again until 1960. In 1930 Radke set a 1,000 m world record.
  • She retired in 1934, after finishing fourth in the 800 m at the last Women's World Games.
  • After that she worked as athletics coach in Breslau and Torgau.
  • Her husband took part in World War II and was held as a prisoner of war in the Soviet Union.
  • Upon his release in 1950, the family moved to Karlsruhe.

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