Anna ("Anni") Christine Friesinger-Postma (born 11 January 1977) is a German former

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

. Her father Georg Friesinger, of Germany, and mother Janina ("Jana") Korowicka, of Poland, were both skaters; Jana was on the Polish team at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label= Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

. Her brother Jan is also a speed skater. Her sister Agnes is a former speed skater. In July 2010, Friesinger retired from her active sports career when she had to be treated for severe

cartilage Cartilage is a resilient and smooth type of connective tissue. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints as articular cartilage, and is a structural component of many body parts including the rib cage, the neck ...

damage in her right knee joint. On 11 August 2009 Friesinger married former

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

skater Ids Postma, her long-term boyfriend, at Schloss Mirabell. The celebration took place at Schloss Aigen. As of November 2013, Friesinger lives in

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...

, Austria, and is planning to move to the Netherlands to live with Postma on his farm in Dearsum. In August 2011 she gave birth to a daughter. In May 2014, her second daughter was born.

Sports merits

Championships

Friesinger has won five Olympic medals;

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile ...

at the 1500 m in the

2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internationa ...

and the team pursuit in the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

and

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy Greene Wayne G ...

as well as

bronze Bronze is an alloy consisting primarily of copper, commonly with about 12–12.5% tin and often with the addition of other metals (including aluminium, manganese, nickel, or zinc) and sometimes non-metals, such as phosphorus, or metalloids suc ...

at the 3000 m in the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in th ...

and the 1000 m in the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

. She managed to qualify for the German speed skating team in five events at the 2006 Winter Olympics: the team pursuit and the individual races at 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m, and 5000 meters. However, she failed to win gold in any individual events. In the team pursuit semifinal against the United States at the 2010 Olympics, she fell behind her team members and ended up sliding across the finish line on her belly, but Germany still succeeded in advancing to the final. As well as being a five-time European Allround Champion and three time, World Allround Champion, Friesinger has won numerous titles in the

World Single Distance Championships The World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships are a series of speed skating competitions organised by the International Skating Union. History Since the late 19th century, speed skating championships were always decided by racing multiple ...

. Although she originally specialized in the longer distances, she also won the World Sprint Championships in 2007. In this, Friesinger became the fifth skater in history to be a World Champion in both Allround and Sprint disciplines (along with

Sylvia Burka Sylvia Burka ( lv, Silvija Burka; born May 4, 1954, in Winnipeg, Manitoba) is a former ice speed skater and track cyclist from Canada of Latvian descent, who represented her native country at three consecutive Winter Olympics, starting in 1972 i ...

, CAN (1976 and 1977); Eric Heiden, U.S. (1977 and 1977); Natalya Petrusyova, URS (1980 and 1982); and Karin Kania-Enke, GDR (1980 and 1982)).

Records

Personal records

Friesinger has set the

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

at the 1500 m distance four times during her career, but the record has since been superseded by Canadian competitor

Cindy Klassen Cindy Klassen, (born August 12, 1979) is a Canadian retired long track speed skater. She is a six-time medallist having achieved one gold, two silver, three bronze at the Winter Olympics. She is the only Canadian Olympian to win five medals in ...

. Source: SpeedskatingResults.com She is currently in 9th position in the adelskalender.

World records

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com

Non-sport activities

Friesinger has done some modeling work as a sideline, and she has appeared as a

swimsuit model A model is a person with a role either to promote, display or advertise commercial products (notably fashion clothing in fashion shows) or to serve as a visual aid for people who are creating works of art or to pose for photography. Though mo ...

in several publications. She is also known for her particularly powerful thighs,Radio 538
In Zwoele Zomernachten: Ids Postma in a radio interview, July 2008. as befits a champion speed skater.

Autobiography

* ''Mein Leben, mein Sport, meine besten Fitness-Tipps'' ("My Life, My Sport, My Best Fitness Tips"). March 2004, Goldmann. .

References

External links

*
Anni Friesinger
at Speed Skating Stats
Anni Friesinger Fan Site
– at Skate Log, edited by Kathie Fry * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Friesinger-Postma, Anni 1977 births German female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1998 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2002 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2006 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of Germany Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic bronze medalists for Germany World record setters in speed skating People from Bad Reichenhall Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria German people of Polish descent Living people World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists World Single Distances Speed Skating Championships medalists World Sprint Speed Skating Championships medalists