Petra Schneider (born 11 January 1963 in Karl-Marx-Stadt, now Chemnitz) is a former medley and freestyle swimmer from

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

in the 1970s and 1980s. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 400 m individual medley at the 1980 Summer Olympics in

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, and set five world records in swimming. She was named by Swimming World magazine as World Swimmer of the Year in 1980 and 1982, but her achievements are regarded with suspicion due to the state-run systemati
doping program
run by East Germany. She later admitted to having been doped. In 2005, she called for her last remaining record (German national record in the 400 m individual medley) to be struck from the record books, because it was achieved with the aid of steroids. Schneider came to prominence at the 1978 World Championships in

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, winning bronze in the 400 m individual medley behind arch-rival

Tracy Caulkins Tracy Anne Stockwell, OAM, (born January 11, 1963), née Tracy Anne Caulkins, is an American former competition swimmer, three-time Olympic gold medalist, five-time world champion, and former world record-holder in three events. Caulkins was ...

of the

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with whom she shares the same birthday. Thereafter, she never lost to Caulkins again, repeatedly lowering Caulkins' world record in the event, three times in 1980 from 4:40.83 to 4:36.29 at the

Olympics, which was boycotted by the

. She improved her record to 4:36.10 at

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in 1982 and it was not bettered until 1997. Schneider's victory in the 400 m event left silver medallist

Sharron Davies Sharron Elizabeth Davies, (born 1 November 1962) is an English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and European championships and competed for England in the Commonwealth Games. Davies has attended 12 ...

of the

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10 seconds in arrears. This particular victory, however, has been proven to be fraudulent as Schneider later admitted to doping as part of the Stasi era drugs program wherein many female athletes were put on testosterone to enhance their outcome. She also held the world record in the 200 m individual medley, but was denied a gold medal as the event was canceled for the 1980 games. She also collected a silver medal in the 400 m freestyle. She repeated her haul at the 1982 World Championships in

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, winning the medley double and a silver in the 400 m freestyle. She also won three European Championships medals and set eight European records. She was also named by Swimming World as the European Swimmer of the Year in 1979 and 1980. However, her Olympic career was ended when the Soviet bloc, including East Germany, staged a retaliatory boycott of the

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held in

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. Schneider attributed her success in swimming (prior to admissions of doping) with the quote

For me swimming is the most beautiful of all sports. Although I have been training for very many years and have taken part in a great number of competitions, I always find something new in this sport. And this I'm sure is greatly to the credit of my coach, Eberhard Mothes, who takes my training sessions at the sport club in Karl-Marx-Stadt and never fails to come up with something interesting or challenging in the course of the work. I am the kind of person who likes being expected to achieve as much as I possibly can.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schneider, Petra 1963 births Living people Olympic swimmers of East Germany Swimmers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany East German female medley swimmers East German female freestyle swimmers Doping cases in swimming German sportspeople in doping cases Sportspeople from Chemnitz World record setters in swimming Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver

See also

References