Editing Renate Stecher (section)

==Biography==
Born as Renate Meißner, she was a very talented athlete, also competing in the [[high jump]] and [[women's pentathlon|pentathlon]]. She debuted internationally at the [[1969 European Athletics Championships|1969 European Championships]], where she – as a last minute substitute – won a [[silver medal]] in the [[200 metres|200 m]] and a [[Gold medal|gold]] in the [[4 × 100 metres relay|4 × 100 m relay]].<ref name=sr/>


In 1970 she was the World Student Games Champion in both the 100 and 200 metres.

Renate won five national 100m titles 1970-75. She also won the 200 on 4 occasions.


At the next European Championships, in [[1971 European Athletics Championships|1971]], she won both the [[100 metres|100]] and 200 m and the silver in the relay. At that time, she was already competing as Renate Stecher, having married [[hurdling|hurdler]] Gerd Stecher the previous year.<ref name=sr/>

At the [[1972 Summer Olympics]], Stecher repeated that performance. She won the 100 m in time of 11.07, which was only in 1976 recognised as [[List of world records in athletics|world record]], which had been measured in tenths of seconds before (the times in tenths were later corrected). She also equalled the world record in the 200 meters with a time of 22.40. The following year, Stecher set (hand timed) world records in both sprint events, also becoming the first woman to beat 11 seconds. She clocked 10.9 and 10.8 for the 100 metres and 22.1 for the 200 metres.<ref name=sr/>

Stecher also won the 200 m. [[Wilma van den Berg]] of the Netherlands had qualified for the semifinals, and the 23.22 that she ran in the quarterfinals was faster than the time in the quarterfinals of Stecher.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.olympedia.org/results/61413|title=Olympedia – 200 metres, Women|website=www.olympedia.org}}</ref> However, after the killing of 11 Israeli athletes in the [[Munich Massacre]], and the Olympics not being cancelled, van den Berg withdrew from the competition in sympathy with the Israeli victims.<ref name="auto451">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1973/07/08/archives/maccabia-games-a-somber-occasion.html|title=Maccabiah Games: A Somber Occasion|date=July 8, 1973|work=The New York Times}}</ref> She said that she was leaving in protest of the "obscene" decision to continue with the Olympic Games.<ref>John Bale (2004). [https://books.google.com/books?id=bkeRAgAAQBAJ&dq=Wilma++van+Gool+sprinter&pg=PA157 ''Running Cultures; Racing in Time and Space'']</ref>

In Rome at the [[1974 European Athletics Championships|1974 European Championships]] she was defeated in both the 100 m and 200 m, by [[Irena Szewińska]] of Poland and had to settle for silver in both distances. However the GDR 4 × 100 m relay team, in which Stecher ran the second leg, won the gold medal in a world record time.<ref name=sr/>

At the [[1976 Summer Olympics]], Stecher again competed in the three sprint events, winning medals in all three once again. She was beaten for the 100 m title by [[Annegret Richter]], and came third in a 200 m race with five German women in the first five positions. With the 4 × 100 m relay team they beat [[West Germany]], taking revenge for the race four years earlier.<ref name=sr/>