Britta Siegers (born 4 July 1966) is a retired

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

wheelchair tennis Wheelchair tennis is one of the forms of tennis adapted for wheelchair users. The size of the court, net height and rackets are the same, but there are two major differences from pedestrian tennis: athletes use specially designed wheelchairs, ...

player and Paralympic swimmer who competed in international level events. She was the first German disabled athlete to compete in two different sports at the Paralympics: she was a swimmer from

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

to 1992 and returned twelve years later as a wheelchair tennis player at the

2004 Summer Paralympics ) , nations = 136 , athletes = 3,806 , events = 519 in 19 sports , opening = 17 September , closing = 28 September , opened_by = President Costis Stephanopoulos , cauldron = Georgios Toptsis , stadium = Olympi ...

Swimming career

Siegers' first sport was swimming when she started in 1969 after she lost both of her legs in a train accident aged two years old. She swam competitively in 1984 at the Summer Paralympics and won her first medals there. Her most successful Paralympic Games was in 1992 where she won five gold medals, two silvers and one bronze medal, she narrowly missed winning her consecutive freestyle titles after being beaten by

Priya Cooper Priya Naree Cooper, (born 2 October 1974) is an Australian world champion disabled swimmer, winning nine Paralympic gold medals as well as world records and world championships. She competed in the Australian swimming team at the 1992, 1996 an ...

in both the 50m and 100m freestyle S8.

Tennis career

Siegers began playing wheelchair tennis in the early 1994 after her retirement to swimming in 1992. She won seven singles titles and eleven doubles titles and her highest ranking was World No. 8 in July 2003, she competed at her fourth and last Summer Paralympics Games in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

in 2004 where she reached the quarterfinals in the women's singles.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Siegers, Britta 1966 births Living people Sportspeople from Leverkusen Paralympic swimmers for Germany Paralympic wheelchair tennis players for Germany Swimmers at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Swimmers at the 1992 Summer Paralympics Wheelchair tennis players at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 1992 Summer Paralympics German female tennis players German female freestyle swimmers German female backstroke swimmers German female breaststroke swimmers German female butterfly swimmers German female medley swimmers S8-classified para swimmers German wheelchair tennis players