Birte Weigang (born 31 January 1968 in

Leipzig Leipzig (, ; ; Upper Saxon: ; ) is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Saxony. The city has a population of 628,718 inhabitants as of 2023. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, eighth-largest city in Ge ...

) is a former

butterfly Butterflies are winged insects from the lepidopteran superfamily Papilionoidea, characterized by large, often brightly coloured wings that often fold together when at rest, and a conspicuous, fluttering flight. The oldest butterfly fossi ...

and

backstroke Backstroke or back crawl is one of the four Swimming (sport), swimming styles used in competitive events regulated by FINA, and the only one of these styles swum on the back. This swimming style has the advantage of easy breathing, but the disa ...

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

from

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 ...

, who won three medals at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were represe ...

Seoul, South Korea Seoul, officially Seoul Special Metropolitan City, is the capital city, capital and largest city of South Korea. The broader Seoul Metropolitan Area, encompassing Seoul, Gyeonggi Province and Incheon, emerged as the world's List of cities b ...

. The twenty-year-old triumphed with the DDR women's relay team in the 4×100 m medley together with her teammates

Kristin Otto Kristin Otto (; born 7 February 1966) is a former German swimmer, becoming Olympic, World and European champion, multiple times. She is most famous for being the first woman to win six gold medals at a single Olympic Games, doing so at the 1988 ...

Silke Hörner Silke Hörner (born 12 September 1965) is a German former breaststroke swimmer, a leading member of the 1980s East Germany, East German swimming team. She won two Olympic gold medals, in the 200 m breaststroke and 4×100 m medley relay ...

and

Katrin Meissner Katrin Meissner (, born 17 January 1973) is a former freestyle swimmer from East Germany, who won three medals at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. The fifteen-year-old triumphed with the GDR women's relay team in the 4×100&nb ...

, and finished second in both the 100 m and the 200 m butterfly. She won a gold medal in 1987 at the European Championships, in the women's 4×100 m medley. She is a daughter of the legendary Horst Weigang, once a footballer of the year for East Germany. She started her career in

SC Turbine Erfurt SC, Sc or sc may refer to: Arts and media * ''Sim City'', a city-building simulator game * Snapchat, a multimedia messaging app * Soccer club, another name for a football club in association football * Social club, a type of club. * ''Soulcalibu ...

. Weigang celebrated her biggest success in 1985, when at the age of 17 she became a European

champion. Later she concentrated on butterfly style and won a silver medal at the World Championships in 1986, which were held in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

. After Weigang gave up her swimming career, she became a coach.

References

databaseOlympics
1968 births Living people German female backstroke swimmers German female butterfly swimmers Olympic swimmers for East Germany Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Swimmers from Leipzig Place of birth missing (living people) World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists in swimming Olympic gold medalists in swimming Sportspeople from Bezirk Leipzig East German female backstroke swimmers East German female butterfly swimmers {{Germany-swimming-Olympic-medalist-stub