Jewish athlete barred from 1936 Berlin Olympics dies at 103

Margaret Bergmann Lambert, an outstanding high jumper who was barred from the 1936 Berlin Olympics because she was Jewish, dies in New York aged 103.

Her niece, Doris Bergman, confirms that Bergmann Lambert had died Tuesday, the New York Times reports.

In June 1936, just a month before the Olympics, Bergmann Lambert, then a German citizen known as Gretel Bergmann, won a meet against some of the best German high jumpers with a leap of 5 feet 3 inches. That height tied a German record and would have been good enough to win the gold medal.

Shortly after winning that June meet, held at Adolf Hitler Stadium in Stuttgart, she received a letter from Nazi officials informing her that she had not qualified. “Looking back on your recent performances,” the letter stated, “you could not possibly have expected to be chosen for the team.” Her accomplishment was removed from the record books.

In 1937, Gretel Bergmann was able to obtain papers that allowed her to immigrate to the United States. In 1938, she married a fellow German refugee, Bruno Lambert, who was a sprinter. He died in 2013.

The couple is survived by two sons, Glenn and Gary; two grandchildren; and a great-grandson.

Ms. Lambert continued to compete in track and field events, but for only a few more years. She won the United States women’s high-jump and shot-put championships in 1937 and the high jump again in 1938. She was preparing to try out for the 1940 United States Olympic team when war broke out in Europe, after which she focused her attention on trying to get her parents out of Germany, which she was ultimately able to do.

— JTA