Andrea Ehrig ( Mitscherlich, also known as Schöne, born 1 December 1960) is a retired East German

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

. She was one of the world's best long-distance skaters in the 1980s. A four-time Olympian, she won seven Olympic medals, including gold in the 3000 metres (as Andrea Schöne) at the 1984 Sarajevo Games.

Career

Ehrig was born Andrea Mitscherlich in

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

Saxony Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...

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 ...

. At the 1976 Olympics in

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

, as a 15-year-old, she won a silver medal in the 3000 m event, just one one-hundredth of a second ahead of Lisbeth Korsmo who won bronze. At the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid she came fourth in the 3000 metres. Four years later at the 1984 Olympics in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, competing under her first married name of Schöne, she won silver in both the 1000 and the

1500 m The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilometer ...

and became Olympic champion in the

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

. In 1988, at her fourth and final

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, competing as Andrea Ehrig, she won two more silver medals in the long distances, and a bronze medal in the 1500 metres. She became European champion five times and World Champion twice, in 1983 and 1985. Between 1983 and 1987 she set 10 world records in 1500–10,000 m events. Ehrig was married twice. After the 1980 Winter Olympics, she married the rower Ingolf Schöne and towards the end of that year, it was announced that she was expecting their child. She married a second time in 1985 to fellow Olympic speed skater Andreas Ehrig. Personal bests: *500 m – 40.71 (1988) * 1000 m – 1:19.32 (1988) * 1500 m – 2:01.00 (1986) * 3000 m – 4:12.09 (1988) * 5000 m – 7:17.12 (1988)

References

External links

Andrea Mitscherlich at SkateResults.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehrig-Mitscherlich, Andrea 1960 births Living people German female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters for East Germany East German female speed skaters Medalists at the 1976 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany World record setters in speed skating Speed skaters from Dresden World Allround Speed Skating Championships medalists