Birgit Fischer: Wikis

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Medal record
Women's canoe sprint
Olympic Games
Gold	1980 Moscow	K-1 500 m
Gold	1988 Seoul	K-2 500 m
Gold	1988 Seoul	K-4 500 m
Gold	1992 Barcelona	K-1 500 m
Gold	1996 Atlanta	K-4 500 m
Gold	2000 Sydney	K-2 500 m
Gold	2000 Sydney	K-4 500 m
Gold	2004 Athens	K-4 500 m
Silver	1988 Seoul	K-1 500 m
Silver	1992 Barcelona	K-4 500 m
Silver	1996 Atlanta	K-2 500 m
Silver	2004 Athens	K-2 500 m
World Championships
Gold	1978 Belgrade	K-4 500 m
Gold	1979 Duisburg	K-4 500 m
Gold	1981 Nottingham	K-1 500 m
Gold	1981 Nottingham	K-2 500 m
Gold	1981 Nottingham	K-4 500 m
Gold	1982 Belgrade	K-1 500 m
Gold	1982 Belgrade	K-2 500 m
Gold	1982 Belgrade	K-4 500 m
Gold	1983 Tampere	K-1 500 m
Gold	1983 Tampere	K-2 500 m
Gold	1983 Tampere	K-4 500 m
Gold	1985 Mechelen	K-1 500 m
Gold	1985 Mechelen	K-2 500 m
Gold	1985 Mechelen	K-4 500 m
Gold	1987 Duisburg	K-1 500 m
Gold	1987 Duisburg	K-2 500 m
Gold	1987 Duisburg	K-4 500 m
Gold	1993 Copenhagen	K-1 500 m
Gold	1993 Copenhagen	K-4 500 m
Gold	1994 Mexico City	K-1 500 m
Gold	1994 Mexico City	K-4 500 m
Gold	1995 Duisburg	K-4 500 m
Gold	1997 Dartmouth	K-2 200 m
Gold	1997 Dartmouth	K-2 500 m
Gold	1997 Dartmouth	K-2 1000 m
Gold	1997 Dartmouth	K-4 200 m
Gold	1997 Dartmouth	K-4 500 m
Gold	1998 Szeged	K-4 500 m
Silver	1994 Mexico City	K-2 200 m
Silver	1994 Mexico City	K-4 200 m
Silver	1995 Duisburg	K-4 200 m
Silver	1998 Szeged	K-2 500 m
Silver	1998 Szeged	K-2 1000 m
Silver	1999 Milan	K-4 500 m
Bronze	1993 Copenhagen	K-1 5000 m
Bronze	1994 Mexico City	K-2 500 m
Bronze	2005 Zagreb	K-2 200 m
Bronze	2005 Zagreb	K-4 1000 m

Birgit Fischer (born February 25, 1962 in Brandenburg an der Havel, then East Germany) is a kayaker, who has won eight gold medals over six different Olympic Games, a record she shares with Aladár Gerevich, spanning seven Olympiads: twice representing East Germany (interrupted by the boycott of 1984), then four times representing the reunited nation. After both the 1988 and 2000 games, she announced her retirement, only to return for the subsequent games. She has been both the youngest- and oldest-ever Olympic canoeing champion (ages 18 and 42). In 2004 she was voted German sportswoman of the year.

She attended an ASK (army sports club) boarding school in Potsdam, and worked as a sports instructor in the National People's Army, attaining a rank of major by the time of German reunification in 1990. She was married from 1984 to 1993 to canoeist Jörg Schmidt, silver medalist in the C-1 1000 m event at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. She lives with their two children in Brandenburg. In 1999 she stood unsuccessfully as a candidate for the FDP in the European Parliament election. Fischer's niece, Fanny, competed for Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, winning a gold in the K-4 500 m event. Fischer's brother Frank won nine world championship medals between 1981 and 1986.

She also won 38 different ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships medals between 1978 and 2005, including 28 golds.

References

Awards
Preceded by Hannah Stockbauer	German Sportswoman of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Uschi Disl

Olympic Kayaking Champions in Women's K-1 500 m

1948: Karen Hoff (DEN) • 1952: Sylvi Saimo (FIN) • 1956: Yelizaveta Dementyeva (URS) • 1960: Antonina Seredina (URS) • 1964: Lyudmila Khvedosyuk (URS) • 1968: Lyudmila Pinayeva (URS) • 1972: Yulia Ryabchinskaya (URS} • 1976: Carola Zirzow (GDR) • 1980: Birgit Fischer (GDR) • 1984: Agneta Andersson (SWE) • 1988: Vanja Gesheva (BUL) • 1992: Birgit Fischer (GER) • 1996: Rita Kőbán (HUN) • 2000: Josefa Idem (ITA} • 2004: Natasa Janics (HUN) • 2008: Inna Osypenko (UKR)

Olympic Kayaking Champions in Women's K-2 500 m

1960: Soviet Union (Mariya Shubina, Antonina Seredina) • 1964: Germany (Roswitha Esser, Annemarie Zimmermann) • 1968: West Germany (Roswitha Esser, Annemarie Zimmermann) • 1972: Soviet Union (Lyudmila Pinayeva, Yekaterina Kuryshko) • 1976: Soviet Union (Nina Gopova, Galina Kreft) • 1980: East Germany (Carsta Genäuß, Martina Bischof) • 1984: Sweden (Agneta Andersson, Anna Olsson) • 1988: East Germany (Birgit Fischer, Anke Nothnagel) • 1992: Germany (Ramona Portwich, Anke von Seck) • 1996: Sweden (Susanne Gunnarsson, Agneta Andersson) • 2000: Germany (Birgit Fischer, Katrin Wagner-Augustin) • 2004 – 2008: Hungary (Katalin Kovács, Natasa Janics)

Olympic Kayaking Champions in Women's K-4 500 m

1984: Romania (Agafia Constantin, Nastasia Ionescu, Tecla Marinescu, Maria Ştefan) • 1988: East Germany (Birgit Fischer, Anke Nothnagel, Ramona Portwich, Heike Singer) • 1992: Hungary (Rita Kőbán, Éva Dónusz, Erika Mészáros, Kinga Czigány) • 1996: Germany (Anett Schuck, Birgit Fischer, Manuela Mucke, Ramona Portwich) • 2000: Germany (Birgit Fischer, Manuela Mucke, Anett Schuck, Katrin Wagner-Augustin) • 2004: Germany (Birgit Fischer, Maike Nollen, Katrin Wagner-Augustin, Carolin Leonhardt) • 2008: Germany (Fanny Fischer, Nicole Reinhardt, Katrin Wagner-Augustin, Conny Waßmuth)

World champions in women's canoe sprint K-1 500 m

1938: (600 m) Maggie Kalka (FIN) * 1950: Sylvi Saimo (FIN) * 1954: Therese Zenz (SAA) * 1958: Yelizaveta Kislova (URS) * 1963: Mariya Shubina (URS) * 1966: Lyudmila Pinayeva (URS) * 1970: Lyudmila Pinayeva (URS) * 1971: Lyudmila Pinayeva (URS) * 1973: Nina Gopova (URS) * 1974: Anke Ohde (GDR) * 1975: Anke Ohde (GDR) * 1977: Gudrun Klaus-Dittmar (GDR) * 1978: Roswitha Eberl (GDR) * 1979: Roswitha Eberl (GDR) * 1981: Birgit Fischer (GDR) * 1982: Birgit Fischer (GDR) * 1983: Birgit Fischer (GDR) * 1985: Birgit Schmidt-Fischer (GDR) * 1986: Vanja Gesheva (BUL) * 1987: Birgit Schmidt-Fischer (GDR) * 1989: Katrin Borchert (GDR) * 1990: Josefa Idem (ITA) * 1991: Katrin Borchert (GER) * 1993: Birgit Schmidt (GER) * 1994: Birgit Schmidt (GER) * 1995: Rita Kőbán (HUN) * 1997: Caroline Brunet (CAN) * 1998: Caroline Brunet (CAN) * 1999: Caroline Brunet (CAN) * 2001: Josefa Idem (ITA) * 2002: Katalin Kovács (HUN) * 2003: Katalin Kovács (HUN) * 2005: Nicole Reinhardt (GER) * 2006: Dalma Benedek (HUN) * 2007: Katalin Kovács (HUN) * 2009: Katalin Kovács (HUN)

World champions in women's canoe sprint K-2 200 m