The record was set at the 4th IAAF World Cup meet in Canberra. The previous world record time was 47.99 seconds, run by Jarmila Kratochvílová of Czechoslovakia at Helsinki in 1983. Kratochvílová was Koch's main rival over the distance.
Marita Koch is one of many East German athletes who are widely suspected of having taken performance–enhancing drugs. To this day, no woman other than Kratochvílová has come within half a second of her world record time.
© Haydn Thompson 2022