Kerstin KIELGASS

Kerstin Kielgaß was an active high-performance long distance freestyle swimmer for 15 years, winning her first international title for the former GDR at the 1985 European Championships with the 4×100 freestyle relay. All her other podiums were earned with the reunified German team – European Championships: one gold, three silver and two bronze medals; World Championships: two gold, two silver and one bronze medal; and Olympic Games: one silver and three bronze medals. After the Games in Sydney she retired, and then became a physiotherapist for the Bundesliga volleyball club SV Bayer Wuppertal, where her best friend Simone Osygus is club manager.

As part of the GDR doping investigations into the practices of the East German doctors and sports officials, it became known, among other things, that her coach, Volker Frischke, had given his pupils anabolic steroids regularly.