 |
< Back to Index of Gymnasts
KARIN BÜTTNER-JANZ
Karin Büttner Janz was born on February 17, 1952, in Hartmannsdorf a district of Lübben, Germany.
Her father, Guido Janz, was her gymnastics first coach. Karin enrolled in a sports school in Forst, where she trained under Klaus Helbeck.
Her final coach was Jurgen Heritz. As a 15-year-old in 1967, Karin was selected as the athlete
of the year in the German Democratic Republic. In the 1968 Summer Olympics, she won the silver medal on the uneven bars and her team
won the the bronze medal. At the 1970 World Championships, she won the gold medal on the uneven bars, and again at the 1972 Munich Olympics
ahead of Olga Korbut who was favored to win the event. She also won the gold medal on the vault as well as
a silver in the all-around. Karin has an uneven bars element named after her — the Janz Salto — which she first performed in competition
in 1971.
She retired from the sport shortly after the 1972 Olympics to study medicine and is now a doctor of orthpoedics in Hellersdorf, Germany.
For more information, visit her profile page on the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique website.
|
|
