Brigitte HOLZAPFEL

High jumper Brigitte Holzapfel placed 11th at the 1976 Montréal and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. She was also nominated for the 1980 Moskva Games but due to the US-led boycott could not compete. Nevertheless she was politically active in the pro-Olympic movement in West Germany, speaking out against the boycott. In 1978, Holzapfel won the bronze medal at the European Championships, although in 1981 she was eliminated in the qualifying round. In her youth she was 1975 European Youth Champion in the pentathlon, and she was runner-up in the 1977 European Cup. She was West German Champion in 1976 and 1978, and indoor champion in 1977, 1978 and 1983. She retired in 1986 after rupturing her Achilles tendon.

Holzapfel graduated as a sports teacher and worked as a coach with her home club LG Olympia Dortmund. She also became head national coach for high jumping. Her sister Beate was a nationally successful high jumper and 400 hurdles runner. Brigitte was first married to non-Olympian and long jumper Jörg Klocke, and then to the sports director of the German Track and Field Association Thomas Kurschilgen. Their daughter Lisa Kurschilgen became a long jumper.

Personal Best: HJ – 1.95 (1978).