Heike Schwaller ( Wieländer, born 24 July 1968) is a

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

Swiss Swiss most commonly refers to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Swiss may also refer to: Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss Café, an old café located ...

curler.

Curling career

Schwaller has played most of her competitive career for Germany. As a junior curler she competed at the European Junior Championships in 1985 and in 1989; her team finished 7th at both tournaments. At the 1989 and 1990

European Curling Championships The European Curling Championships are annual curling tournaments held in Europe between various European nations. The European Curling Championships are usually held in early to mid December. The tournament also acts as a qualifier for the Worl ...

she played

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

for

skip Skip or Skips may refer to: Acronyms * SKIP (Skeletal muscle and kidney enriched inositol phosphatase), a human gene * Simple Key-Management for Internet Protocol * SKIP of New York (Sick Kids need Involved People), a non-profit agency aiding ...

Andrea Schöpp Andrea Schöpp (born 27 February 1965) is a German curler from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. She lectures part-time in statistics at the University of Munich. Career Schöpp is a two-time World champion ( and ), seven-time European champion (, , , ...

, and won a gold medal at the 1989 event. Schwaller moved to second for Team Schöpp for her first

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

, where the team finished 5th. After a few years away from Team Schöpp, Schwaller returned as alternate for the team from 1994 through 1997. As alternate, the team won a silver medal at the

1994 European Curling Championships The 1994 European Curling Championships were held from December 4 to 10 at the Gärdehallen in Sundsvall, Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northe ...

, gold at the

1995 European Curling Championships The 1995 European Curling Championships were held from December 9 to 16 at the Sportzentrum in Grindelwald, Switzerland. Men's A Tournament Group A Group B B Tournament Group A Playoffs Women's Group A Group B B Tournament Grou ...

, and a bronze at the 1996 European Curling Championships and 1997 European Curling Championships. The team also represented Germany at 3 World Championships in 1995, 1996, and 1997, with a best finish of fourth. Schwaller, however, never played a game in any of these tournaments. Schwaller returned to lead on Team Schöpp for 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 ...

in Nagano, Japan. Schwaller's Team Germany finished the Games in last place, with only one win. She was promoted back to second following the Olympics and played another four European Championships (1998-2001) and three World Championships (1998, 1999, and 2001) in this position on Team Schöpp. At the 1998 European Championships Schwaller won another gold medal; finishing 5th, 4th, and 4th the following three years. The team finished 5th at all three of these World Championship appearances. Schwaller again represented Germany for 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 ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in the state. The city is the core of the Salt Lake Ci ...

. The team lineup was very similar to that of Team Schöpp that competed at the 2001 European Championships only a couple months earlier, including Schwaller, Andrea Stock, and Natalie Nessler, but missing Andrea Schöpp. Due to a disagreement with the German Curling Association, Schöpp was replaced at skip with Natalie Nessler, her long-time third. Sabine Belkofer was brought in to take Nessler's vacated spot at third. Team Germany greatly improved their performance compared to the 1998 Games, finishing 5th with a record of 5-5, missing the playoffs by one spot. Team Germany maintained the same line-up later that year for the 2002 World Championships. They finished 9th out of 10 teams. This was Schwaller's final competition representing Germany. Schwaller reappeared on the international curling stage at the 2010 World Championships, this time representing her new country of Switzerland. She played second for Binia Feltscher.

Personal life

Schwaller is married to

Andreas Schwaller Andreas "Andi" Schwaller (born 8 July 1970 in Recherswil) is a Swiss curler. Schwaller started playing curling in 1982. He plays in fourth position as a skip and is right-handed. In 2001 he won a silver medal at the World Curling Ch ...

, a Swiss curler who won a bronze medal at the

. Schwaller's brother-in-law,

Christof Christof is a masculine given name. It is a German variant of Christopher. Notable people with the name include: * Christof Babatz (born 1974), German former professional footballer * Christof Duffner (born 1971), German former ski jumper * Chri ...

, is also an elite curler and played

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

for his brother Andreas at the 2002 Olympics.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Schwaller, Heike 1968 births Living people German female curlers Swiss female curlers Curlers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Curlers at the 2002 Winter Olympics 20th-century German sportswomen 21st-century German sportswomen