ATHLETE

Dora Ratjen

1918 - 2008

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Heinrich Ratjen (20 November 1918 – 22 April 2008), born Dora Ratjen, was a German athlete who competed for Germany in the women's high jump at the 1936 Summer Olympics at Berlin, finishing fourth, but was later determined to be male and/or intersex. In some news reports, he was erroneously referred to as Hermann Ratjen and Horst Ratjen. Read more on Wikipedia

His biography is available in different languages on Wikipedia. Dora Ratjen is the 76th most popular athlete (up from 98th in 2019), the 2,108th most popular biography from Germany (up from 2,510th in 2019) and the 4th most popular German Athlete.

Dora Ratjen, also known as Heinrich Ratjen, was a German athlete who is most famous for her controversial participation in the women's high jump event at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Ratjen was later revealed to be a male athlete who had been forced to compete as a woman by the Nazi government in order to promote their ideology of Aryan superiority. The incident remains a notable example of the use of sports for political propaganda, and Ratjen's story is often cited as an example of the exploitation and mistreatment of athletes under totalitarian regimes.

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Among ATHLETES

Among athletes, Dora Ratjen ranks 76 out of 6,025. Before him are Mark Phillips, Ole Einar Bjørndalen, Coroebus of Elis, Matti Järvinen, Wilma Rudolph, and Zara Tindall. After him are Alberto Juantorena, Jack Shea, Efren Reyes, Sid Atkinson, Volodymyr Holubnychy, and Jānis Lūsis.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1918, Dora Ratjen ranks 94. Before him are Lucian Pulvermacher, Konstantinos Mitsotakis, Philip José Farmer, Thomas Gordon, Jean-Marie Loret, and Ian Stevenson. After him are Gara Garayev, Antonín Mrkos, Huber Matos, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Ben Johnson, and William Whitelaw, 1st Viscount Whitelaw. Among people deceased in 2008, Dora Ratjen ranks 84. Before him are Bettie Page, Marcial Maciel, Ken Naganuma, Bo Diddley, Mate Parlov, and Pak Song-chol. After him are Kiyosi Itô, Don S. Davis, Paul Scofield, Anthony Minghella, Cyd Charisse, and Manuel Marulanda.

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In Germany

Among people born in Germany, Dora Ratjen ranks 2,109 out of 7,253. Before him are Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (1630), Princess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau (1833), Karl Gegenbaur (1826), Walter Brandmüller (1929), Adolph Freiherr Knigge (1752), and Gerhard Schmidhuber (1894). After him are Johannes R. Becher (1891), Kunigunde of Hohenstaufen (1202), Robert Koldewey (1855), Frederick VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach (1617), Andreas Osiander (1498), and Walter Buch (1883).

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Among ATHLETES In Germany

Among athletes born in Germany, Dora Ratjen ranks 4. Before him are Luz Long (1913), Marita Koch (1957), and Fritz Hofmann (1871). After him are Friedrich Traun (1876), Klaus Wolfermann (1946), Karl Hein (1908), Gisela Mauermayer (1913), Karin Balzer (1938), Annelie Ehrhardt (1950), Tilly Fleischer (1911), and Rosemarie Ackermann (1952).

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