Brigitte Wagner (born November 22, 1983, in

Freising Freising () is a university town in Bavaria, Germany, and the capital of the Freising ''Landkreis'' (district), with a population of about 50,000. Location Freising is the oldest town between Regensburg and Bolzano, and is located on the ...

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 ...

) is a retired amateur German freestyle wrestler, who competed in the women's flyweight category. Considering one of the world's top female freestyle wrestlers in her decade, Wagner has claimed a gold and a silver medal in the 48-kg division at the

World Championships 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, ...

, and seized an opportunity to compete for Germany at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Throughout her sporting career, Wagner trained full-time as a member of the wrestling squad for Siegfried Sports Club in

Hallbergmoos Hallbergmoos is a municipality in the district of Freising in Bavaria in Germany. The Isar River flows west of the town. Economy Augsburg Airways, a regional airline, was headquartered in Hallbergmoos until it ceased to exist. The headquarters o ...

, under her coach and four-time Olympian Jürgen Scheibe. Wagner made sporting headlines, as an 18-year-old teen, at the

2001 World Wrestling Championships The following is the final results of the 2001 World Wrestling Championships. Freestyle competition were held in Sofia, Bulgaria and Greco-Roman competition were held in Patras, Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic ...

in Sofia, Bulgaria, where she took home the bronze medal in the women's 46-kg division. Wagner's early success in wrestling blossomed her career, as she dominated both the 2002 World and 2003 European Championships with two unprecedented gold medals produced in her hardware. When women's wrestling made its debut at the 2004 Summer Olympics 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 ...

, Wagner seized her opportunity to compete in the inaugural 48 kg class. Earlier in the process, she outclassed Russia's Liliya Kaskarakova to snatch both the trophy and Olympic ticket from the Olympic Qualification Tournament in

Tunis, Tunisia ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

. She was powerfully pinned by Japan's Chiharu Icho with only two seconds left in the second period during her opening match, but managed to score a 4–3 sudden-death victory over Canada's Lyndsay Belisle in the prelim pool. Despite missing a spot for the semifinals, Wagner wrestled her way to pin Mongolia's Tsogtbazaryn Enkhjargal in a consolation round, before losing out to Russia's Lorisa Oorzhak with a 1–3 decision for a fifth-place finish.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wagner, Brigitte 1983 births Living people German female sport wrestlers Olympic wrestlers for Germany Wrestlers at the 2004 Summer Olympics People from Freising Sportspeople from Upper Bavaria World Wrestling Championships medalists European Wrestling Championships medalists 20th-century German women 21st-century German women