Karin Büttner-Janz
Büttner-Janz in 1972
Personal information
Country represented East Germany
Born (1952-02-17) 17 February 1952
Lübben, East Germany
Height1.56 m (5 ft 1 in)
Weight46 kg (101 lb)
DisciplineWomen's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team1967–72 (GDR)
ClubSC Dynamo Berlin
Retired1972
Medal record
Women's artistic gymnastics
Representing  East Germany
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place1972 MunichVault
Gold medal – first place1972 MunichUneven bars
Silver medal – second place1968 Mexico CityUneven bars
Silver medal – second place1972 MunichAll-around
Silver medal – second place1972 MunichTeam
Bronze medal – third place1968 Mexico CityTeam
Bronze medal – third place1972 MunichBalance beam
World Championships
Gold medal – first place1970 LjubljanaUneven bars
Silver medal – second place1970 LjubljanaTeam competition
Silver medal – second place1970 LjubljanaVault
European Championships
Gold medal – first place1969 LandskronaAll-around
Gold medal – first place1969 LandskronaUneven bars
Gold medal – first place1969 LandskronaVault
Gold medal – first place1969 LandskronaBalance beam
Silver medal – second place1967 AmsterdamUneven bars
Silver medal – second place1969 LandskronaFloor exercise
Bronze medal – third place1967 AmsterdamVault

Karin Büttner-Janz (née Janz, born 17 February 1952) is a German medical doctor who won world and Olympic gold medals in artistic gymnastics for East Germany. From 1990 to 2012, she was chief physician of clinics in Berlin, Germany. She has a foundation named Spinefoundation.[1]

Gymnastics career

Her first coach was her father Guido Janz, who taught her excellent basics. Büttner-Janz moved to a sports school in Forst, where she trained under Klaus Helbeck. Her final coach was Jürgen Heritz.

In 1967, at the age of 15, Büttner-Janz was nominated as East German Athlete of the Year after a silver medal on the uneven bars and a bronze medal on the vault at the European championship in Amsterdam. She went on to win the silver medal on the uneven bars and a bronze medal as part of the country's gymnastics team at the 1968 Summer Olympics.

At the 1970 world championships, she overcame Ludmilla Tourischeva on the uneven bars to win the gold medal. In a controversial finish, she delivered another gold medal winning performance on the uneven bars at the 1972 Munich Olympics, defeating Olga Korbut on her favourite apparatus. She also won the gold medal on the vault, a silver medal as part of the East German women's gymnastics team, another prestigious silver medal in the all-around competition, with Ludmilla Tourischeva of the Soviet Union winning the gold and Tamara Lazakovich of the Soviet Union winning the bronze, and bronze on the balance beam. Most believed she was robbed of the All-Around title, especially as with almost the exact same performances she outscored Tourischeva by a whopping 0.65 of a point (more than a fall) in the event finals 4 routines combined. She was the most successful German athlete at the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich and was afterwards recognized as GDR (German Democratic Republic) Sportswoman of the Year in 1972. After these successes, she announced her intention of ending her competitive career to turn to the study of medicine to become a physician.[2]

Büttner-Janz has an uneven bars element named after her, the Janz Salto, which she first performed in competition at the SV Dynamo Spartakiade in East Berlin, 1971.

Academic physician

Karin Büttner-Janz (left) and Kurt Schellnack (center) developed the artificial spine disk Charité Disc in the 1980s

Büttner-Janz studied at the Humboldt University in East Berlin beginning in 1971 and earned her diploma in emergency medicine. Later, she conducted her clinical semester at the orthopedic hospital of the Charité and went on to specialize in orthopaedics. She obtained her postdoctoral lecture qualification (habilitation treatise) through her work on the development of an artificial spine disk, known as the Charité Disc.[2] She developed the device[3] together with her colleague Kurt Schellnack. In 1990, Büttner-Janz moved from the Charité Berlin to the orthopedic clinic of Berlin-Hellersdorf, in 2004 to the Vivantes clinic of Berlin-Friedrichshain. From 2008 to 2012, she was additionally Chief Physician of the Vivantes clinic in Berlin-Kreuzberg.

In 2005, she became Extraordinary Professor at the Charité-Unviversitätsmedizin Berlin. From 2008 to 2009 she was president of the Spine Arthroplasty Society (later renamed to International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery).

From 2014 to 2016, she studied at the Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin und became Master of Business Administration (MBA) in general management.

Honours

Büttner-Janz in Leipzig, 2017

See also

References

  1. ↑ "The Founder". Büttner-Janz Spinefoundation. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  2. 1 2 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Karin Janz". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
  3. ↑ "Charité Artificial Spine Disc Replacement". Archived from the original on 11 January 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ↑ Panorama of the 1972 Sports Year (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport. 1973. pp. 122–124.
  5. ↑ "Karin Janz". Inductees. International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. Retrieved 2 April 2014.
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