Marita Koch (later Meier-Koch; born 18 February 1957) is a German former sprint track and field athlete.

Born in Wismar, East Germany, Marita Koch displayed exceptional speed even as a young child and was defeating boys much older than herself in sprint races whilst at school.

Her time of 21.71 seconds (wind +0.7 m/s) set at Karl Marx Stadt stood as the world record for nine years.

She remained the European record holder for the 200 m until 28 August 2015 when Dafne Schippers won the 200 m final at the 2015 World Championships with a time of 21.63 seconds.

In October 1986, she was awarded a Star of People's Friendship in gold (second class) for her sporting success.

She had suffered from an Achilles tendon injury[5] She and Meier own a sports goods store in Rostock.

During the final stages of the race, the original video footage only captured Koch and Olga Bryzhina (née Vladykina) of the former USSR, who was trailing behind, but closing the gap.

The rest of the field had been left so far behind that they were not captured by the camera as Koch and Vladykina crossed the finishing line.

[8][9] In a 400 m race, the only women to have broken the 48-second barrier are Koch and Jarmila Kratochvílová (47.99 seconds, Helsinki, 1983).

Kratochvílová was Koch's main rival over the distance and also a 400 m world record holder in the early 1980s.

The documents list the dosage and timetables for the administration of anabolic steroids to many athletes of the former DDR, with one of them being Marita Koch.