This was expected to be a battle between the Soviet and GDR athletes,
with no clear favourite. Pollak, the world record holder, started well,
leading the athletes through the 100m hurdles with 13.30, just 0.01 and
two points ahead of Siegl. Her lead was extended to 71 over
Popovskaya after a fine 16.25 in the shot, with Siegl 190 back and
Laser 142 behind Pollak. Tkachenko won the high jump with a fine
1.80 to take the lead with 2864 ahead of teammate Popovskaya (2825).
Four others were within 10 points, led by Pollak on 2797.
Siegl long-jumped 6.49 to move into seventh place, with Papp next
best on 6.35, and Tkachenko (3788) still leading by a slender margin
from Popovskaya (3772), Jones (3764), Pollak (3758) and Laser
(3757). Siegl produced a searing 200m of 23.09, a lifetime best, with
Laser second in 23.48 and Pollak next with 23.64. Improbably, this left
Siegl and Laser with the same total, 4745. Siegl was determined the
winner as she had been ahead of Laser in three of the five events, while
Pollak won her second consecutive bronze.
GDR
URS
CAN
USA
HUN
BUL
FRG
YUG
GBR
JAM
FIJ
URU
PER
