 She had a long rivalry with Nadezhda Chizhova of the Soviet Union.Margitta Gummel did not win any medals in the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, where she competed in the shot put event.Later, at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, she won a gold medal in the shot put event, and four years later, a silver medal in the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, having been beaten by her rival Nadezhda Chizhova.