Career
She trained with Ruth Fuchs at the Motor Jena sport club As the sport career of Fuchs came to an end, Felke took over the lead in the javelin throw. On 9 September 1988 she became the first woman to ever throw the javelin further than 80 metres.
Strictly speaking, this world record throw was measured at 80.00m exactly.
However, the rules in force at the time dictated that measurements had to be rounded down to the nearest 2 cm, so it is almost certain that the throw was indeed further than 80 metres. Her first world record had come on 4 June 1985 in Schwerin when she threw 75.26 meters, a result that she beat later that same day with a throw of 75.40 meters.
Her next world record came on 29 July 1987 in Leipzig when she threw 78.90 meters. At the height of her career she was 1.72 metres (5 ft 8 in) tall and weighed 64 kilograms.