Carmen Rischer (born 16 May 1956 in

Schwerte Schwerte (; Westphalian: ''Schweierte'') is a town in the district of Unna, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Geography Schwerte is situated in the Ruhr valley, at the south-east border of the Ruhr Area. South of Schwerte begins the mountain ...

) is an individual

rhythmic gymnast Rhythmic gymnastics is a sport in which gymnasts perform individually or in groups on a floor with an apparatus: hoop, ball, clubs, ribbon and rope. The sport combines elements of gymnastics, dance and calisthenics; gymnasts must be strong, fle ...

. She was the 1975 World all-around champion. She also won the bronze medal in hoop at the 1980 European Championships in Amsterdam.

Biography

Rischer began taking ballet lessons at age five because she was sickly as a toddler and her doctor advised that her posture might become permanently damaged because of her illness. Her gymnastics talent was discovered in 1971. Internationally, she competed at the 1973 World Championships, finishing 21st in the all-around. At the 1975 championships 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 ...

, the rhythmic gymnasts from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

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 ...

were absent. In their absence, Rischer and teammate Christiana Rosenberg dominated the competition. Rischer won the all-around title ahead of Rosenberg; she also won the gold medals in hoop and ribbon and a silver medal for clubs. In 1977, she was invited to an international competition in Canada, but due to an injury, she could not compete. At the 1977 World Championships, she finished 6th in the all-around and ball finals and won silver in the ribbon final. At the first Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships in 1978, she tied for fourth place with

Daniela Bošanská Daniela Bošanská (born 22 August 1962) is a Czech former rhythmic gymnast. She is a European and World medalist and three-time Czech national champion. Career Daniela debuted at the 1978 European Championships in Madrid, where she was 4th i ...

. Rischer competed in the 1979 World Championships and was 7th in the all-around; she also competed in three apparatus finals. She was again fourth place in the all-around at the 1980 European Championships, and she also won a bronze medal in the hoop final. In 1981, she competed at the first international rhythmic gymnastics meet held in the United States. She won the all-around event and ribbon finals and was bronze in the hoop final. At her last World Championships in 1981, she was sixth in the all-around and competed in all four apparatus finals.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rischer, Carmen 1956 births Living people German rhythmic gymnasts Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics World Championships Sportspeople from Schwerte 20th-century German women 21st-century German women West German rhythmic gymnasts Medalists at the Rhythmic Gymnastics European Championships