Heike Gabriela Drechsler is a German former track and field athlete who represented East Germany and later Germany. One of the most successful long jumpers of all-time, she is a former world record holder and ranks third on the all-time list with her legal best of 7.48 metres in 1988. Her marginally wind-assisted jump of 7.63 metres (+2.1) in 1992 at altitude in Sestriere, is still the furthest a woman has ever long jumped. She is the only woman who has won two Olympic gold medals in the long jump, winning in 1992 and 2000.
Drechsler at long jump
Heike Daute in 1984
Heike Daute in 1984
Heike Drechsler in 2018
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a group are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". This event has a history in the ancient Olympic Games and has been a modern Olympic event for men since the first Olympics in 1896 and for women since 1948.
Long jump at the 2013 IPC Athletics World Championships
An indicator of wind direction and a device for measuring wind speed (here +2.6 m/s) along a run-up track
Halteres used in athletic games in ancient Greece
An athlete performing the long jump as part of the heptathlon at the 2013 French Athletics Championships at Stade Charléty in Paris