Franziska van Almsick (; born 5 April 1978) is a retired

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

, former world record holder in 200 metres freestyle. She was multiple World and European champion, in both Long and Short Course Championships.

Career

Her career began at the

SC Dynamo Berlin The Sports Club Dynamo Berlin was an East German sports club that existed from 1954 to 1991. It was the largest sports club of SV Dynamo, the sports association of the security agencies. The club was reformed after German reunification and succe ...

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

. Franziska van Almsick won 2 gold medals at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

, 18 gold medals at the

European championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

and 4 gold medals at the European championships (SC). At the

in 1994, her teammate Dagmar Hase qualified for the 200 metre freestyle final as the eight best swimmer, leaving Franziska only with the ninth best qualification time. Therefore, Hase abandoned her start place and offered it to van Almsick, who then won the gold medal in the final bettering the world record. Franziska won her first Olympic medals in 1992 at the Barcelona Olympic Games aged only 14. She won a Silver and Bronze respectively in 200 m freestyle and 100 m freestyle. In other team events, she won a Silver and Bronze respectively in 4x100 m medley relay and 4x100 m freestyle relay for the German swimming team. She has the distinction of having the most career Olympic medals, ten, without ever winning a gold medal. She ended her career at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. In 1993, she was named by ''

Swimming World magazine } ''Swimming World'' is a US-based quarterly swimming magazine that was first published in a magazine format as ''Junior Swimmer'' in January 1960. It concurrently runs online websites ''Swimming World Magazine'' and ''Swimming World News'' (kn ...

'' as the Female World Swimmer of the Year. In 1995, she was described by the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' as "the swimmer who united a nation", due to her status as "the first big star of

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

Personal life

She has two sons, born in 2006 and 2013. Her family resides in

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

Baden-Württemberg Baden-Württemberg ( ; ), commonly shortened to BW or BaWü, is a states of Germany, German state () in Southwest Germany, east of the Rhine, which forms the southern part of Germany's western border with France. With more than 11.07 million i ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. In 1993, evidence revealed that her mother Jutta, a sports coach, had been a

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

informer, though Jutta disputed this.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Almsick, Franziska Van 1978 births Living people Swimmers from East Berlin German female medley swimmers German female freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers for Germany Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 1996 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2000 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics World record setters in swimming Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists in swimming German female butterfly swimmers World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin 20th-century German sportswomen 21st-century German sportswomen

Career

Personal life

See also

References

External links