Birgit RADOCHLA

East German gymnast Birgit Radochla competed in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, finishing fourth with the mixed German team. Individually she won a silver medal on the vault as the first German gymnast to medal in that event. She also placed an unfortunate fourth on the floor and in the all-around. In 1961 and 1963 she won the East German all-around title, adding five more individual titles. At the 1965 Europeans Radochla won two bronze medals in the all-around and the beam. In the floor exercise she won silver.

Her father Helmut was the first GDR pommeled horse champion in 1949 and then the first national head coach from 1950-53, and is considered a pioneer of East German gymnastics, while her mother was a sports and gymnast teacher. She was trained as a kindergarten teacher but also studied sports science. One of her innovations on the uneven bars was named the “Radochla Roll”, which was accepted internationally as a new gymnastic element.