656 days after her last competition, fencing Olympic champion Britta Heidemann has officially ended her successful career as a competitive athlete. The 35-year-old from Cologne announced her long-awaited resignation from the Planche on Friday. At her last contest on 17. April 2016 in Prague, the sword fencer had missed her Olympic qualification for Rio de Janeiro.
“In an interview with SID, Heidemann said in an interview with SID:” I would like to start my new projects with full power ahead of schedule “.
Heidemann has already made a name for herself as a functionary. She was voted with the most votes in the IOC Athletes’ Committee. In addition, the independent management consultant “Ambassador for Development Sport” is a member of the Federal Government and, since last August, a member of the Supervisory Board of the 1. FC Cologne.
Heidemann can look back on a highly successful career. The highlight was the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, when it not only won gold, but became one of the faces of the games worldwide with its reminder to increase diplomacy in dealing with the Chinese regime. The then 25-year-old lived in China for a few months, speaks Mandarin fluently and successfully completed her studies in Chinese regional studies.
Heidemann also won two more Olympic silver medals (2004 in Athens and 2012 in London) and eleven medals at the World Fencing Championships. Above all, she will miss the moment “when you put the last hit in fencing. It’s an intoxicating feeling.”