Heike Friedrich (born 18 April 1970 in

Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany ...

Saxony Saxony (german: Sachsen ; Upper Saxon: ''Saggsn''; hsb, Sakska), officially the Free State of Saxony (german: Freistaat Sachsen, links=no ; Upper Saxon: ''Freischdaad Saggsn''; hsb, Swobodny stat Sakska, links=no), is a landlocked state of ...

) is a former freestyle swimmer from

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

, who won two medals at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

Seoul, South Korea Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 o ...

. At the age of 15, Friedrich won five gold medals in the 1985 European championships and won four more in the World Championship the next year. She had not lost in a single major international championship in any event until she was defeated by

Janet Evans Janet Beth Evans (born August 28, 1971) is an American former competition swimmer who specialized in distance freestyle events. Evans was a world champion and world record-holder, and won a total of four gold medals at the 1988 and the 1992 Ol ...

in the 400 m in the Seoul Olympics, taking the silver medal. Friedrich had already won the gold medal in the 200 m freestyle on the previous day. In October 1986, she was awarded a

Star of People's Friendship The Star of People's Friendship (german: Stern der Völkerfreundschaft), Star of Nations' Friendship, was an order awarded by the German Democratic Republic German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Ge ...

in gold (second class) for her sporting success.

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* * * * 1970 births Living people East German female freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers of East Germany Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1988 Summer Olympics World record setters in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit Sportspeople from Chemnitz {{Germany-swimming-Olympic-medalist-stub