Monika Pflug (born 1 March 1954), also known as Monika Holzner-Pflug and Monika Gawenus-Pflug, is a former

speed skater Speed skating is a competitive form of ice skating in which the competitors race each other in travelling a certain distance on skates. Types of speed skating are long track speed skating, short track speed skating, and marathon speed skating. ...

from

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. She was born in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

and competed for

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

. Pflug's talent for speed skating was discovered in 1968 and the very next year, she already became junior national champion. In 1970, she set a national record on the 1000 m and in 1971, she became national sprint champion. The next year, 1972, was her best year; she first became national allround champion, then, one month later, she won gold on the 1000 m at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

, and two weeks after that, she became world sprint champion. After getting married, Pflug started competing as ''Monika Holzner-Pflug'' in the 1974–75 season. The marriage was short-lived, however, and after her divorce she competed as ''Monika Pflug'' again. In 1984, Pflug married fellow speed skater Fritz Gawenus, a multiple national champion. From then on, she competed as ''Monika Gawenus-Pflug''. Pflug would compete in a total of five Winter Olympics between 1972 and 1988, but did not win any more Olympic medals. At the World Sprint Championships, she won three more medals, all bronze, in 1973, 1974 and 1982. She interrupted her speed-skating career for a while to become a mother. Pflug ended her speed-skating career abruptly in 1988 after a new personal and national record on the 500 m in an otherwise disappointing season. By that time, she had gathered 16 national titles and had skated a national record 65 times.

Medals

An overview of medals won by Pflug at important championships she participated in, listing the years in which she won each:

World records

Over the course of her career, Pflug skated one

world record 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 ...

Personal records

To put these personal records in perspective, the column ''WR'' lists the official world records on the dates that Pflug skated her personal records.

References

External links

Monika Pflug at SkateResults.com

Monika Pflug
from ''Deutsche Eisschnelllauf Gemeinschaft e.V.'' (the German Skating Association)
Personal records from Jakub Majerski's Speedskating Database

Historical World Records
from the ''International Skating Union'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pflug, Monika 1954 births German female speed skaters Speed skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1984 Winter Olympics Speed skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Olympic speed skaters of West Germany Medalists at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in speed skating Olympic gold medalists for West Germany Sportspeople from Munich Living people