Christina Lathan
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Olympic medalist | |||
 |
|||
| Medal record | |||
Competitor for  East Germany |
|||
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's athletics | |||
| Gold | 1976 Montreal | 4 x 400 m | |
| Silver | 1976 Montreal | 400 m | |
| Silver | 1980 Moscow | 4 x 400 m | |
| Bronze | 1980 Moscow | 400 m | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | IAAF 1977 | 4 x 400 m | |
| Gold | 1979 World Cup | 4 x 400 m | |
| European championships | |||
| Silver | 1978 EC | 4 x 400 m | |
Christina Lathan (née Brehmer, born February 28, 1958) is a retired East German sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres.
Born in Altdöbern she started training in 1969 at the sports club SG Dynamo Senftenberg, and was transferred to SC Dynamo Berlin in 1973. At the 1975 European Junior Championships she won three gold medals, in 400 m, 4 x 100 metres relay and 4 x 400 metres relay.
In 1976 she set three world records, the last of which was 49.75 seconds, becoming the first woman to run under 50 seconds. The record was broken by Poland's Irena Szewińska a month later. At the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal she won the silver medal in the 400 metres behind Irena Szewinska, as well as a gold medal in the 4 x 400 m relay with her teammates Brigitte Rohde, 400 m bronze medalist Ellen Streidt and Doris Maletzki.
The next year Lathan won another relay gold medal at the IAAF World Championships 1977. At the 1978 European Championships she won a silver medal in the individual event and another gold medal in 4x400 m relay, together with teammates Christiane Marquardt, Barbara Krug and Marita Koch. She then duplicated her World Cup success at the 1979 IAAF World Cup.
She returned to the 1980 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the 400 metres behind Marita Koch and Jarmila Kratochvílová. In the 4 x 400 metres she was the sole survivor of the 1976 winning team and could only win the silver medal with her teammates Gabriele Löwe, Barbara Krug and Marita Koch.
