Gretel Lambert (born Margarethe Bergmann; April 12, 1914 – July 25, 2017)[1] was a German Jewish track and field athlete who competed as a high jumper during the 1930s.

Due to her Jewish origins, the Nazis prevented her from taking part in the 1936 Summer Olympics, after which she left Germany and vowed never to return.

That April her parents sent her to the United Kingdom where in 1934, where she took part in the British 1934 WAAA Championships and won the high jump event with a height of 1.55 metres.

She won the Württembergian Championships in the high jump in 1935 and again on 30 June 1936 when, one month prior to the opening of the Olympic Games, she tied the German record by crossing 1.60 metres.

[9] Bergmann-Lambert was banned from the Berlin Olympics despite matching the high-jump record of 1.60 metres (5 feet 3 inches) to qualify and having spent two years on the team, starting in 1934.

[11] She was not replaced; instead, Germany fielded only two high jumpers: Dora Ratjen, who was later revealed to be a man who had been raised as a girl, and Elfriede Kaun.

[citation needed] In 1937, Bergmann emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City,[9] where she married Bruno Lambert, a physician.

In 1937 she left Germany forever.Bergmann's entry into the Jewish Hall of Fame at Wingate Institute in Israel in 1980 revived interest in her story.