Bärbel Wöckel ( Eckert; born 21 March 1955) is a former East German sprinter. She never ran a world record in the individual disciplines. However, she ran several world records as part of relay teams with Doris Maletzki, Renate Stecher and Christina Heinich over 4 x 100 meters, the last time on September 8, 1974, in Rome. At the GDR Championships she took first place in the 4 x 100 meter relay in 1974, 1977, 1978, 1981 to 1984. In 1976 she won third place with the team. During this time she was in the state-organized doping program. Biography Wöckel won four Olympic gold medals between the 200 metres race and 4 × 100 metres relay, two each in the 1976 and 1980 Olympics. In each of those years, Wöckel placed first in the 200 m and 4 × 100 metres relay races. She won a gold medal at the 1974 European Championships as the anchor of the 4 × 100 m relay, which set a world record of 42.50. She won the gold in the 200 m and as a part of the 4 × 100 m relay team as well as a silver in the 100 metres at the 1982 European Championships. Bärbel Wöckel competed for the club SC Motor Jena during her active career. Her rival, Marita Koch, complained in a letter that Bärbel received higher doses of steroids than her, because she had relatives in the company Jenapharm. Awards Selection 1974: Patriotic Order of Merit (German: Vaterländischer Verdienstorden, or VVO) in Bronze 1976: Patriotic Order of Merit in silver 1980 and 1984: Patriotic Order of Merit in gold 2018: DLV-Ehrennadel in gold See also German all-time top lists – 100 metres German all-time top lists – 200 metres List of multiple Olympic gold medalists References External links 1955 births Living people Athletes from Leipzig East German female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit European Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic female sprinters Friendship Games medalists in athletics