Jens-Peter Berndt (born 17 August 1963) is a retired German swimmer. He who won three silver medals in medley event at the 1982 World Aquatics Championships and 1983 European Aquatics Championships. In May 1984 he set a world record in the 400 m medley, but could not participate in the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the sec ...

because of its boycott by East Germany. Instead, he competed at the

Friendship Games The Friendship Games, or Friendship-84 (russian: Дружба-84, ''Druzhba-84''), was an international multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many differ ...

, winning two gold medals in medley events. Frustrated with lack of freedoms in his country, on 7 January 1985 Berndt spontaneously defected to the United States at the Oklahoma City airport while returning from competitions, leaving his father and sister in Potsdam. Berndt was granted asylum, enrolled to the

University of Alabama The University of Alabama (informally known as Alabama, UA, or Bama) is a public research university in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Established in 1820 and opened to students in 1831, the University of Alabama is the oldest and largest of the publi ...

, became adopted by Thomas and Becky Patterson of Birmingham, and obtained a permanent resident status. While he wanted to compete in the 1988 Olympics for the US, he was not eligible for US citizenship until 1990. He turned to

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 ...

. In May 1988 he traveled from the US to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

and finished within top three in two backstroke and two medley events at the national championships. He was thus selected for 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 ...

by West Germany, and allowed to compete by 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). While the IOC normally requires from athletes a three-year stay in a country that they are going to represent, the IOC respected the constitution of West Germany that automatically granted citizenship to all East Germans since their birth. At the Olympics, Berndt finished sixth in the 200 m backstroke and 400 m medley. After the games, he returned to the United States, graduated in public relations and marketing and worked for US companies.

References

1963 births German male swimmers Swimmers at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic swimmers of West Germany Sportspeople from Potsdam Living people World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming East German defectors 20th-century German people 21st-century German people {{Germany-swimming-bio-stub