Anja Brinker (born January 18, 1991) is a retired

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

artistic gymnast Artistic gymnastics is a discipline of gymnastics in which athletes perform short routines on different apparatuses. The sport is governed by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG), which designs the Code of Points and regulates ...

. Brinker started gymnastics in her hometown of

Melle Melle may refer to: People * Basil Melle (1891–1966), South African cricketer * Gil Mellé (1931–2004), American artist, jazz musician and film composer * John van Melle (1887–1953), Dutch-born South African author * Melle Mel (born ...

at age 6 before moving to

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

for better training conditions. When she was 13, the training center there closed and she switched to a national training center in

Bergisch Gladbach Bergisch Gladbach () is a List of cities and towns in Germany, city in the Cologne/Bonn Region of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, and capital of the Rheinisch-Bergischer Kreis (district). Geography Bergisch Gladbach is located east of the river ...

. She was initially coached by Dieter Koch, the husband of the German national coach Ulla Koch, and later by Oleg Tchekmarov. In 2004, she won gold on

uneven bars The uneven bars or asymmetric bars is an artistic gymnastics apparatus. It is made of a steel frame. The bars are made of fiberglass with wood coating, or less commonly wood. The English abbreviation for the event in gymnastics scoring is UB o ...

at the German Junior National Championships and placed third in the all-around. The next year, she became junior national champion in the all-around and on

vault Vault may refer to: * Jumping, the act of propelling oneself upwards Architecture * Vault (architecture), an arched form above an enclosed space * Bank vault, a reinforced room or compartment where valuables are stored * Burial vault (enclosure ...

, and earned second place on floor and third place on bars.profile from www.turn-team.de
/ref> In 2006, she took part in the Junior European Championships in

Volos, Greece Volos ( el, Βόλος ) is a coastal port city in Thessaly situated midway on the Greek mainland, about north of Athens and south of Thessaloniki. It is the sixth most populous city of Greece, and the capital of the Magnesia regional unit ...

. With

Marie-Sophie Hindermann Marie-Sophie Hindermann (born 26 May 1991) is a German former artistic gymnast. Career Hindermann won four medals at the 2006 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships in the junior category: a silver on vault and bronzes in team, all-ar ...

Joeline Möbius Joeline Möbius (born 26 August 1992) is a German female artistic gymnast, representing her nation at international competitions. She participated at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. She also competed at world championships, including ...

, Lisa-Katharina Hill and Dorothee Henzler, she won a bronze medal in the team competition. She placed nineteenth in the all-around and qualified for the bars event final, where she finished seventh. 2007 was Brinker's first year as a senior. She won gold on bars, silver on floor and silver in the all-around at the national championships and competed at the Ghent World Cup, where she was fourth on bars. At the 2007 European Championships in Amsterdam, she placed tenth in the all-around and sixth on bars. Later that year, she competed at the 2007 World Championships in Stuttgart, where she placed eighteenth in the all-around. The German team finished tenth, qualifying a full women's gymnastics team for the Olympics for the first time since 1992. Despite injuries at the beginning of 2008, Brinker was named to the German team for the

2008 Olympic Games The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

in Beijing. There, she competed only on her best event, the uneven bars. She made a mistake on her dismount and scored 15.125, missing the bars final. The team finished 12th and last in qualifications.

References

External links

* * http://www.turnteam.de/cms/content.php?navId=337 * http://www.turn-team.de/Download/2008/Resultate/Resultate%20Brinker.pdf * https://web.archive.org/web/20080617203520/http://www.designedbytim.com/gymnstands/code/brinker.htm * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brinker, Anja 1991 births Living people People from Melle, Germany Sportspeople from Lower Saxony German female artistic gymnasts Gymnasts at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gymnasts for Germany