Birgit Fischer
Canoeist; Born February 25, 1962, in Brandenburg, Germany
| Fischer hopes to add to her 10 Olympic medals in Athens. |
| |
| OLYMPIC RECORD | 1980 -- 1 gold (K1 500 meters) 1988 -- 2 gold (K2 500m, K4 500m) 1992 -- 1 gold (KI 500m), 2 silver (K2 500m, K4 500m) 1996 -- 1 gold (K4 500m), 1 silver (K2 500m) 2000 -- 2 gold (K2 500m, K4 500m)
|
|
(CNN) -- If everything goes to plan, Birgit Fischer will be competing in Athens in August, 24 years after making her Olympic debut in Moscow.
The German, now 42, announced she was coming out of retirement in October with the aim of adding to her 10 medals -- already a canoeing record.
It was different story in Sydney four years ago, however, after Fischer had entered the record books with victories in the 500 meters pairs and the 500 meters fours.
"No more competition," she had said as she climbed out of the canoe after becoming the first woman in Olympic history to win gold 20 years apart and the fifth competitor to collect winner's medals at five separate Games.
"Sometimes you just have to finish and it's great to finish on a high."
But perhaps Fischer feels she is still owed a Games.
As an 18-year-old in Moscow in 1980, Fischer claimed gold in the individual event.
But she missed the 1984 Games -- at a time when she was a world champion at singles, pairs and fours -- as East Germany joined the Soviet Union in boycotting Los Angeles.
In Seoul in 1988 Fischer was beaten into second place in the singles final, but she shrugged off the defeat to win gold in the pairs and the fours.
Unified team
Fischer briefly retired after Seoul, but by 1992 she was back in competition as part of a unified German team.
In Barcelona she regained the individual title she had previously won in 1980 and also collected a silver medal in the fours.
Two more medals in Atlanta in 1996 (a gold in the fours and a silver in the pairs) set Fischer up for her record-breaking efforts in Sydney.
Fischer also won 27 world championship titles between 1979 and 1999, yet in a sport that is rarely in the spotlight she remains modest about her achievements.
"The number of medals is simply not that important to me," she said after Sydney.
"Most of the medals I have won have been in team events, so the medals are not just my medals but are earned by the rest of the team members as well."