Waltraud KRETZSCHMAR

Waltraud Kretzschmar was among the East German handball team at the 1976 Montréal Olympics that lost the unofficial “final” of the round-robin tournament against the Soviet Union, 14-11, and earned the silver medal. Four years later at Moskva she added a bronze medal. In 1971, 1975, and 1978 she played on winning World Championship teams. She was the wife of national chief coach Peter Kretzschmar (who was World Champion in 1963) and was one of the world’s best female handball players of the 1970s. She was internationally capped in 217 matches scoring 757 goals.

Domestically, Kretzschmar played with SC Leipzig, helping them to win 10 national titles and the European Champions Cup in 1966 and 1974. After her playing career she also became a graduated handball coach until re-unification. She then trained as a hotel manager and led the casino within the BVG stadium in Lichtenberg in Berlin. Her son Stefan Kretzschmar became a handball professional.