Birgit Fischer-Schmidt

Birgit Schmidt-Fischer of Germany (formerly East Germany) is considered the greatest woman canoeist of all time. Her total of 37 medals (1979-2005) and 27 gold medals (1979-1998) at the World Championships has never been approached and her 12 Olympic medals and eight gold medals are also records. Representing East Germany (GDR) she won the Olympic K1 title in 1980 (as Miss Fischer) and the K2 and K4 in 1988. After a three-year break from competition, during which she gave birth to her second child, she won the K1 in 1992 as a member of the unified German team. In 1996 at Atlanta, she paddled with the German K4 team to win her fifth gold medal, and at Sydney in 2000, she added golds in both K2 and K4. Her husband, Jörg Schmidt, was a World Champion and Olympic silver medalist (in the C1-1,000 in 1988). Birgit Fischer initially retired after the 2000 Olympic Games, but returned in 2003 and competed in the 2004 Olympic Games, winning a gold and silver medal. She has now won gold medals at six different Olympic Games, spanning 24 years. Schmidt-Fischer also won two medals at the 2005 World Championships. It appeared she may compete forever.