Barbara Niedernhuber (nicknamed Babsi, born 6 June 1974 in Berchtesgaden) is a German luger who competed from 1994 to 2006. She won two silver medals in the women's singles event at the

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

(

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

(she was beaten by 2 thousandths of a second by her teammate,

Silke Kraushaar Silke Kraushaar-Pielach (born Silke Kraushaar on 10 October 1970 in Sonneberg, Thuringia) is a German luger who competed from 1995 to 2008. In June 2008, she was named sports manager for the luge section of Bob- und Schlittenverband für Deutsc ...

), 2002). A favorite to make the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second ...

, she was upset at the national championships by Tatjana Hüfner in late 2005. Niedernhuber also won seven medals at the

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non-Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natural ...

with one gold (Mixed team: 2004), four silvers (Women's singles:

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2004, 2005), and two bronzes (Women's singles: 2001, 2003). She also won three bronze medals in the women's singles event at the

FIL European Luge Championships The FIL European Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place since 1914. From 1914 to 1934, these championships were part of the Internationaler Schlittensportsverband (ISSV - International Sled Sport Federat ...

(

, 2002, 2006). Niedernhuber won the overall

Luge World Cup The Luge World Cup season is a yearly competition first organized by the International Luge Federation The International Luge Federation ( French: Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course (FIL); German: Internationaler Rennrodelverband) is ...

title in women's singles in 2004–5. Niedernhuber retired abruptly prior to the start of the 2006-07 World Cup season to a

bacteria Bacteria (; singular: bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micrometr ...

l infection in her

ankle joint The ankle, or the talocrural region, or the jumping bone (informal) is the area where the foot and the leg meet. The ankle includes three joints: the ankle joint proper or talocrural joint, the subtalar joint, and the inferior tibiofibular joi ...

that developed after surgery during the summer of 2006.

Cultural references

* In ''

The Simpsons ''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...

'' episode "

The Bart of War "The Bart of War" is the twenty-first and penultimate episode of the fourteenth season of the American animated television series ''The Simpsons''. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on May 18, 2003. Bart and Milhouse badly d ...

", Milhouse mentions he feels "like luge silver medalist Barbara Niedernhuber" while riding Flanders' video cart.

References

* - retrieved June 12, 2007 . * * * * * * *

External links

* 1974 births Living people People from Berchtesgaden Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria German female lugers Lugers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic lugers of Germany Olympic medalists in luge Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics {{Germany-Winter-Olympic-medalist-stub