Petra Schneider

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Women's Swimming
Olympic medal record
Gold	Moscow 1980	400m Individual Medley
Silver	Moscow 1980	400m Freestyle

Petra Schneider (born January 11, 1963 in Karl-Marx-Stadt) was a medley and freestyle swimmer from East Germany in the 1970s and 1980s, and was a leading member of the East German swimming team. She won an Olympic gold medal in the 400m individual medley at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, and set five world records in swimming. She was named by Swimming World magazine as World Swimmer of the Year in 1980 and 1982, but her achievements are regarded with suspicion due to the state-run systematic doping program run by East Germany. She later admitted to having been doped.^[1]

In 2005 she called for her last remaining record (German national record in the 400m medley) to be struck from the record books, because it was achieved with the aid of steriods.^[2]

Schneider came to prominence at the 1978 World Championships in Berlin, winning bronze in the 400m individual medley behind arch-rival Tracy Caulkins of the United States. Thereafter, she never lost to Caulkins again, repeatedly lowering Caulkins' world record in the event, three times in 1980 from 4:40.83s to 4:36.29 s at the Moscow Olympics, which was boycotted by the United States. Her victory in the 400m event left silver medallist Sharron Davies of the United Kingdom 10 seconds in arrears. She improved her record to 4:36.10 at Guayaquil in 1982 and it was not bettered until 1997.

She also held the world record in the 200m individual medley, but was denied a gold medal as the event was cancelled for the 1980 games. She also collected a silver medal in the 400m freestyle.

She repeated her haul at the 1982 World Championships in Ecuador, winning the medley double and a silver in the 400m freestyle. She also won three European Championships and set eight European records. She was also named by Swimming World as the European Swimmer of the Year in 1979 and 1980. However, her Olympic career was ended when the Soviet bloc, including East Germany, staged a retaliatory boycott of the 1984 Summer Olympics held in Los Angeles.

Schneider attributed her success in swimming with the quote

“

For me swimming is the most beautiful of all sports. Although I have been training for very many years and have taken part in a great number of competitions, I always find something new in this sport. And this I'm sure is greatly to the credit of my coach, Eberhard Mothes, who takes my training sessions at the sport club in Karl-Marx-Stradt and never fails to come up with something interesting or challenging in the course of the work. I am the kind of person who likes being expected to achieve as much as I possibly can.

”

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

^ "Schneider Fesses Up", Swimming World Magazine.com, 1998-04-13. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.
^ "Former Swimmer Wants Record Abolished", ABC News, 2005-12-22. Retrieved on 2006-12-22.

Olympic champions in women's 400 m individual medley
1964: Donna de Varona \| 1968: Claudia Kolb \| 1972: Gail Neall \| 1976: Ulrike Tauber \| 1980: Petra Schneider \| 1984: Tracy Caulkins \| 1988: Janet Evans \| 1992: Krisztina Egerszegi \| 1996: Michelle Smith \| 2000: Yana Klochkova \| 2004: Yana Klochkova