Meyfarth was one of the few jumpers who had already adopted the new high jumping style first displayed by Dick Fosbury at the Mexico Olympics four years earlier.

Yet in front of the patriotic home crowd, she rose to the occasion and improved her best by 5 cm to reach 1.90 metres – enough to secure the gold medal.

She added another 2 cm to equal the standing world record and became the youngest Olympic champion in athletics in an individual event, at only 16 years old.

She did not win any titles in the meantime, placing 7th and 5th at the 1974 and 1978 European Championships, and not reaching the final of the high jump competition at the 1976 Montreal Games.

[5] She won the European championships indoor and outdoor, and set a new world record of 2.02 m on the latter occasion.

Several of her toughest competitors, including Bykova, were absent because most of the East Bloc nations boycotted the Olympics.