Karin Janz

With five medals, Karin Janz won the most awards at the 1972 Olympic gymnastics tournament, although focus went to the more popular Olga Korbut (who also won more gold medals) and the individual all-around champion Lyudmila Turishcheva. Janz’s specialty was the uneven bars apparatus, in which she won a silver medal at the 1968 Olympics, gold in 1972, and the 1970 world title. She introduced a new flight element, the “Janz salto”, in 1971. But Janz also excelled on other apparatuses, winning four titles at the 1969 European Championships, and the horse vault at the 1972 Olympics.

After concluding her athletic career, Janz completed medical school, and worked as an orthopedic surgeon. She was the designer of the Charité intervertebral disk, the best known artificial disk replacement in spine surgery. She was named Sportswoman of the Year in 1967 and 1972. In 2000 she was elected Female Gymnast of the Century, and in 2003 she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, and in 2011 into the German Sports Hall of Fame.