Renate Vogel (later ''Heinrich'' and ''Bauer'', born 30 June 1955) is a retired East German breaststroke swimmer. She had her best achievements in the 4 × 100 m medley relay, setting two

world records 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 organization ...

in 1973 and 1974, and winning a silver medal at the

1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and commonly known as Munich 1972 (german: München 1972), was an international multi-sport event held in Munich, West Germany, from 26 August to 11 September 1972 ...

and two gold medals at the

1973 World Aquatics Championships The 1st FINA World Championships in Aquatics were held in the Tašmajdan Sports Centre in Belgrade, SR Serbia, Yugoslavia, from 31 August to 9 September 1973. Medal table Results Diving ;Men ;Women Swimming ;Men ;Women Synchro ...

and

1974 European Aquatics Championships The 1974 European Aquatics Championships were held in Austrian capital of Vienna from 18 to 25 August 1974. Besides swimming there were titles contested in diving, synchronised swimming (women) and water polo (men). Medal table Medal summary ...

. She also won two world titles in the

100 m 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit (measurement), unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment ...

and 200 breaststroke events in 1973, and set two world records in the 100 m breaststroke in 1974. In 1979, she fled to West Germany by boarding a plane from Budapest to Munich with a false

West German passport West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

. There she gave a series of interviews disclosing details of the East German training system and later worked as a swimming coach. Her cousin, the late Helga Lindner also competed in swimming at the 1972 Olympics.

References

1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Chemnitz German female swimmers Female breaststroke swimmers Olympic swimmers of East Germany Swimmers at the 1972 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming East German defectors East German emigrants to West Germany East German female swimmers Olympic silver medalists in swimming {{Germany-swimming-bio-stub