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

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 **Ger ...

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

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 World ...

she played

lead Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cu ...

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 aidin ...

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 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, 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 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 tourn ...

, 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 The 1996 European Curling Championships were held from November 30 to December 7 at the Hvidovre Ice Rink in Copenhagen, Denmark. Men's A Tournament Group A Group B B Tournament Group A Playoffs Women's Group A Group B B Tournament ...

and

1997 European Curling Championships The 1997 European Curling Championships were held from December 6 to 13 at the Bundesleistungszentrum in Füssen, Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most p ...

. 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 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

Nagano, Japan Nagano may refer to: Places * Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan ** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture *** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics *** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano *** Nagano Univer ...

. 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 Championhips (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 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

. 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 Andrea Stock (born 28 November 1980 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a former German curler. She is a former European champion () and competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and ...

, and

Natalie Nessler Natalie Nessler (born 8 June 1976 in Bensheim, Hessen, Germany) is a former German curler. She is a two-time European champion (, ). She competed in two Winter Olympics: 1998 (8th place) and 2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, cloc ...

, but missing Andrea Schöpp. Due to a disagreement with the

German Curling Association The German Curling Association (DCV) (German: ''Deutscher Curling Verband'') is the national governing body of the sport of curling in Germany. Member clubs There are 16 curling clubs in Germany. Competitive history World Curling Champion ...

, Schöpp was replaced at skip with Natalie Nessler, her long-time third.

Sabine Belkofer Sabine Belkofer (also known as Sabine Belkofer-Kröhnert, Belkofer-Krehnert; born 27 November 1967) is a former German curler and curling coach. She competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olym ...

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 Binia Feltscher (born 13 October 1978 in Chur) is a Switzerland, Swiss retired Curling, curler from Flims. She was the Skip (curling), skip of the 2014 and 2016 World championship curling teams from Switzerland. From 2006 to 2013 she was known as ...

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.2002 Winter Olympics The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games and commonly known as Salt Lake 2002 ( arp, Niico'ooowu' 2002; Gosiute Shoshoni: ''Tit'-so-pi 2002''; nv, Sooléí 2002; Shoshoni: ''Soónkahni 2002''), was an internation ...

. 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 *Christof E ...

, 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 * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

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