Maxi Gnauck (born 10 October 1964) is a German former artistic gymnast who represented East Germany. With a total of 27 medals at the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cups, and European Championships she is considered one of the most successful woman gymnasts that Germany has ever produced. In 1980 she was selected East German Sportspersonality of the Year.
Her parents were expecting a boy and they planned to name him Max so, when the baby turned out to be a girl, they simply added an 'i', creating an uncommon name for Germany. When Maxi was five, her mother took her to a gymnastics centre in their area. By age eight, Maxi had won her first medals at the Kreisspartakiade. When she was nine she changed her club to SC Dynamo Berlin, where she was coached by Jürgen Heritz. Considered one of the best uneven bars competitors of all time, Maxi was also an excellent tumbler. She was one of the first female gymnasts to perform a triple twist on floor.
In April 1986, Maxi officially announced her retirement and began a four-year course in sports coaching at the University of Leipzig. In 1988 she was severely injured while sliding down a waterslide while working as an aide at a children's summer camp by the Baltic Sea. She broke her C5 vertebra and was nearly paralysed. Three vertebrae were later reinforced with a metal plate.
Facing a strong competition after the reunification of East Germany and West Germany, she first took temporary coaching positions in South Africa and Great Britain, both for a few months in 1990. From 1993 until 2004 she worked as a full-time coach at the Harksheide Gymnastics Center in Norderstedt near Hamburg. Since 2005 she has worked at the Artistic and Apparatus Gymnastics Center (Kunst- und Gerätturnzentrum) at Liestal in Switzerland. In 2000, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She is the first German gymnast to be awarded that honour.
Results
Year Competition Placing(s) 1977 East German Children's Spartakiade 1st All-Around 1977 East German Juniors Championships 5th All-Around 1977 East Germany-Czechoslovakia Juniors Dual Meet 1st Team, 1st All-Around 1978 Chunichi Cup 4th All-Around 1978 DTV Cup 5th All-Around 1978 East Germany-Hungary Dual Meet 1st team, 3rd All-Around 1978 Junior Friendship Tournament 2nd Team, 3rd All-Around, 2nd Floor, 4th Bars, 6th Vault 1979 Cottbus International 1st All-Around 1979 European Championships 2nd Vault, 3rd Bars, 6th All-Around 1979 East German Championships 2nd All-Around 1979 East German Cup 4th All-Around 1979 East Germany-Norway-Sweden Tri-Meet 1st Team, 1st All-Around 1979 World Championships 3rd Team, 2nd All-Around, 1st Bars, 4th Floor, 6th Vault 1980 Cottbus International 1st All-Around, 1st bars, 1st Beam, 1st Floor 1980 East German Championships 4th All-Around 1980 East Germany-Hungary Dual Meet 1st Team, 1st All-Around 1980 Olympic Games 3rd Team, 2nd All-Around, 1st Bars, 3rd Floor, 4th Beam, 6th Vault 1980 World Cup 2nd All-Around, 1st Bars, 1st Floor, 6th Vault 1981 Cottbus International 1st All-Around, 1st Bars, 1st Floor, 2nd Vault, 2nd Beam 1981 European Championships 1st All-Around, 1st Bars, 1st Beam, 1st Floor, 2nd Vault 1981 East German Championships 1st All-Around 1981 East Germany-Norway-Sweden Tri-Meet 1st All-Around 1981 World Championships 1st Vault, 1st Bars, 1st Beam, 3rd Team 1982 East German Championships 1st All-Around, 1st Vault, 1st Bars, 1st Floor 1982 East Germany-Hungary Dual Meet 1st Team, 1st All-Around 1982 World Cup 5th All-Around, 1st Bars, 3rd Floor, 7th Vault 1983 Chunichi Cup 4th All-Around, 1st Floor 1983 Cottbus International 1st Vault, 1st Floor, 3rd All-Around 1983 Tokyo Cup 1st Bars, 1st Floor 1983 World Championships 1st Bars, 3rd Team, 4th Vault, 4th Beam, 7th All-Around 1984 Cottbus International 1st Vault, 1st Floor, 4th All-Around 1984 Friendship Games in Olomouc 1st Bars, 1st Floor, 3rd All-Around, 3rd Vault, 5th Beam 1984 DTB Cup 1st All-Around, 1st Bars, 1st Floor, 2nd Vault, 5th Beam 1984 East German Championships 1st All-Around, 1st Bars, 1st Floor, 3rd Vault 1985 Cottbus International 1st Floor, 2nd All-Around, 2nd Vault 1985 European Championships 1st Bars, 2nd All-Around, 4th Vault
See also List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
References
External links