| Erika Zuchold | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Zuchold in 1972 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | 19 March 1947 (1947-03-19) Lucka, Soviet occupation zone, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 22 August 2015 (2015-08-23) (aged 68) Asunción, Paraguay | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gymnastics career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Discipline | Women's artistic gymnastics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country represented |  East Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retired | 1972 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Erika Zuchold (née Barth; 19 March 1947 – 22 August 2015) was an East German gymnast who competed at the European, World, and Olympic level from the mid-1960s to early 1970s.
She and Karin Janz were the two most significant (in terms of medals won at major championships) female German gymnasts of the era, leading the East German team to a bronze medal at the 1968 Olympics and a silver medal at the 1972 Olympics.
The highlight of Zuchold's career came at the 1970 World Championships, where she placed second in the individual all-around behind the Soviet Ludmilla Tourischeva and returned to win gold on both vault and balance beam in event finals.
Zuchold is credited as being the first woman to perform a back handspring on balance beam in World or Olympic competition (at the 1966 World Championships), as well as one of the first two women, along with Věra Čáslavská at the 1968 Olympics, to complete a front handspring on balance beam. She also had a transition element named after her on uneven bars.
In her post-gymnastics career, she was a trapeze artist, a curator, an educator, and an abstract painter. In 2005, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
She was married to the cyclist Dieter Zuchold (1937–2014).
See also
References
- LVZ-Online. "Leipziger Turnerin Erika Zuchold ist tot – Beerdigung in Paraguay". lvz.de. Archived from the original on 2015-09-02. Retrieved 2015-08-28.
- ^ Turner, Amanda (27 August 2015). "Five-Time Olympic Medalist Erika Zuchold Dies at 68". International Gymnast Magazine. Retrieved 28 August 2015.
- Poe, Debbie. "Gymn Forum: Innovators in Gymnastics". Gymn Forum.
External links
- Official website (in German and English)
- Erika Zuchold at the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame
- Erika Zuchold at the International Gymnastics Federation
- Erika Zuchold at Olympics.com
- Erika Zuchold at Olympedia (archive)
- 1947 births
- 2015 deaths
- People from Lucka
- German female artistic gymnasts
- Olympic gymnasts for East Germany
- East German female artistic gymnasts
- Gymnasts at the 1968 Summer Olympics
- Gymnasts at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Olympic silver medalists for East Germany
- Olympic medalists in gymnastics
- World champion gymnasts
- Medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
- Sportspeople from Thuringia
- Medalists at the 1972 Summer Olympics
- Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics
- Olympic bronze medalists for East Germany
- Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold
- German emigrants to Paraguay
- Sportspeople from Bezirk Gera