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 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 ...

. 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 (, ) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 (), were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 4 to 15, 1976. The games were awarded to Inn ...

. 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. Semi-transparent and non-porous, it is usually covered by a tough and fibrous membrane called perichondrium. In tetrapods, it covers and protects the ends of long bones at the joints ...

damage in her right knee joint. On 11 August 2009 Friesinger married former Dutch 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 is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, 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; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

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 (; Gosiute dialect, Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; ; Shoshoni language, Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), were an international wi ...

and the team pursuit in the

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

and

2010 Winter Olympics The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

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 metalloid ...

at the 3000 m in the

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

and the 1000 m in the

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

. 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 multipl ...

. Although she originally specialized in the longer distances, she also won the

World Sprint Championships The world is the totality of entities, the whole of reality, or everything that exists. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the world as unique, while others talk of a "plu ...

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, CAN (1976 and 1977);

Eric Heiden Eric Arthur Heiden (born June 14, 1958) is an American physician and a former long track speed skater, road cyclist and track cyclist. He won an unprecedented five individual gold medals, and set four Olympic records and one world record at th ...

, U.S. (1977 and 1977); Natalya Petrusyova,

URS Urs (from ''‘Urs'') or Urus (literal meaning wedding), is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint, usually held at the saint's dargah (shrine or tomb). In most Sufi orders such as Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya, Qadiriyya, etc. ...

(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 organizatio ...

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 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 for 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 Sportspeople from Bad Reichenhall Speed skaters 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 20th-century German sportswomen 21st-century German sportswomen