Britta Heidemann (born 22 December 1982) is a German

épée The ( or , ), sometimes spelled epee in English, is the largest and heaviest of the three weapons used in the sport of fencing. The modern derives from the 19th-century , a weapon which itself derives from the French small sword. This contain ...

fencer. In 2016, Heidemann became a member of the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC).

Career

Épée Fencing

At the age of 14, already being a successful athlete and swimmer, Britta Heidemann had her first contact with fencing in a variation of modern pentathlon called Friesenkampf. After first switching to modern pentathlon, at the end of 2000, she began to specialize in fencing. In 2001, she became épée junior world vice-champion and junior European champion. In 2002, she reached third place in the

World Fencing Championships The World Fencing Championships is an annual competition in fencing organized by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime (FIE; ''International Fencing Federation'' in English). Contestants may participate in foil, épée, and sabre events. Hi ...

, in 2003 second with the team. In 2004, she won third place with the team in the

Fencing World Cup The FIE Fencing World Cup is an international fencing competition held by the Fédération Internationale d'Escrime. In each weapon (Men's and Women's Épée, Sabre and Foil), three Grand Prix, five World Cup events and several satellite events ...

. During 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 ...

, she won the silver medal in the team with

Claudia Bokel Claudia Bokel (born 30 August 1973, in Ter Apel, the Netherlands) is a German épée fencer. Biography Claudia Bokel fought for the Fencing-Club Tauberbischofsheim. At the 2004 Summer Olympics, she won the silver medal in the épée competiti ...

and

Imke Duplitzer Imke Duplitzer (born 28 July 1975 in Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-la ...

. In 2007, she became world champion in singles in

Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, she won the gold medal in the individual competitions. A year later, in 2009, Heidemann secured the European championship title, thus becoming the first épée fencer to hold all three major titles at once. In 2011, she became German épée champion. Heidemann progressed to the finals of the individual competition of the 2012 Summer Olympics in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

(barely beating

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...

's Shin A-lam due to a controversial clock

malfunction A malfunction is a state in which something functions incorrectly or is obstructed from functioning at all. Some types of malfunctions are: * Malfunction (parachuting), malfunction of a parachute * Sexual malfunction, also called "sexual dysfunc ...

) and eventually lost to

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...

Yana Shemyakina Yana Volodymyrivna Shemyakina ( uk, Яна Володимирівна Шемякіна; born 5 January 1986)
Bundesliga Foundation , logo = DFL Stiftung logo CMYK pos.svg , type = Rechtsfähige Stiftung(nonprofit foundation) , founded = , hq_location_city = Frankfurt , hq_location_country = Germany , area_served = Germany , key_people = Stefan Kiefer''(Chairman of t ...

, a charity that sponsors health and integration projects. She also supports the EU initiative "Youth on the Move" as well as the campaign "Kinderträume 2011" (child dreams 2011).

Personal life

Heidemann currently lives in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

Bibliography

* ''Erfolg ist eine Frage der Haltung: Was Sie vom Fechten für das Leben lernen können.'', Ariston, München 2011,

References

External links