While her athletic resume and sports records are hers to own, Wendy Koenig is quick to acknowledge the help and encouragement she got along the way. She also says Estes Park’s altitude – 7,522 feet above sea level – gave her a physical advantage.
A 1973 graduate of Estes Park High School and 1976 graduate of Colorado State University, Koenig was a standout middle-distance runner in the 1970s. Once while running a meet in California, she started chit-chatting conversationally with fellow competitors who were panting, and one of them begged, “Wendy, would you just shut up.”
The altitude, Koenig says, allowed her body to produce more red blood cells, something that helps athletes by increasing the oxygen supply to their muscles, which improves aerobic capacity, endurance, and performance.
“The only thing I had to be really careful with was heat,” said Koenig, who explained that athletes from higher altitudes and cooler climates are susceptible to heat sickness in warmer locations.
While altitude played a role, so too did natural ability and the determined constitution of a born athlete.
From childhood through college
Koenig began running in elementary school races and eventually started to compete. “I got invited to a meet in Broomfield when I was 13, and I scored high enough in the pentathlon to go to the Junior Olympics and the regional competitions on my first meet, and I joined the Colorado Gold Track Team.”
While she is known as a runner, Koenig also participated in other track and field events, including the long jump and decathlon. Her dad, a gymnastics instructor, taught her how to do hurdles the night before a meet, which she went on to win.
Without hesitation, Koenig credits her teachers and the Estes Park community for supporting her athletic career. The Estes Park Lions Club sold brooms and mops as a fundraiser, and local families hired her to babysit and paid her well so she could earn money to cover her travel expenses to regional and national competitions.
At the age of only 17, Koenig competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, placing fifth in the first round of the 800-meter competition. That year is also sadly remembered for the Munich massacre, when Palestinian militants took Israeli athletes hostage, resulting in the deaths of eleven Israelis, five terrorists, and one German police officer.
Four years later, as Wendy Knudson, she qualified for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal and finished third in the semifinals with a 1:59:91 time, making history as the second American woman to break the two-minute barrier in the 800-meter, and in the finals she finished seventh overall and was the top American in the competition.
Other athletic career highlights include being Colorado State University’s first Title IX scholarship recipient, a three-time national Amateur Athletic Union champion — twice in the 800 meters and once in the 1,500 — setting school and state collegiate records in both events, and being the runner-up in the 1974 national Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women outdoor 880-yard run.
In 1976, she was the first recipient of the Mencimer Memorial Award established by Barbara Mencimer-Maxfield in honor of her parents, Floyd and Catherine Longmore-Mencimer. The award is given annually to the most outstanding female scholar-athlete. Koenig was also honored with the Colorado Sportswoman of the Year Award in 1975, 1976, and 1977.
After Montreal, Koenig continued to chalk up wins in the 880- and 800-meter indoor meets in 1977 and 1979. At the 1979 US Indoor Nationals meet, she won her second national championship in the 880 meters.
In addition to her athletic achievements, Koenig made the dean’s list for academic excellence while at CSU and graduated with honors in 1977 with a Bachelor of Science. She then earned a Master of Science at CSU.
A childhood hearing loss led her to earn a Doctor of Audiology degree from Central Michigan University and to embark on a 40-year career as an audiologist.
From running in the Olympics to running for the Mayor of Estes Park
Over the years, Koenig served in many volunteer and elected leadership roles with community organizations, including the Park Hospital District Board of Directors, the Estes Valley Recreation and Park District, the Estes Park Senior Center, St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church Vestry, the Estes Park Lions Club, and the Estes Park Town Board as a Trustee, Mayor Pro-Tem, and Mayor.
Koenig says her community service has been a way to pay back her hometown for supporting her to achieve athletic and professional success.
Hall of Fame
Other athletes who will be inducted along with Koenig in the Colorado Sports Hall of Fame on April 16 include Broncos all-time interceptions leader Steve Foley, former Denver Nuggets guard Lafayette “Fat” Lever, former CU Buffs star and NFL quarterback Kordell Stewart, Olympic gold medalist and International Tennis Hall of Famer Beatriz “Gigi” Fernández, and DU all-time basketball scorer Harry Hollines.
The banquet and ceremony to honor the inductees for their achievements will be held in the Hilton Denver City Center. Banquet Tickets are $250 each. Since its inception in 1965, the organization has enshrined 292 individuals in its Hall of Fame, with the inaugural class featuring football player Earl “Dutch” Clark, boxer Jack Dempsey, and CU football star-turned-Supreme Court Justice Byron “Whizzer” White.