Maxi Gnauck facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Maxi Gnauck
Gnauck in 1983
Personal information
Country represented	East Germany
Born	(1964-10-10) 10 October 1964 (age 60) East Berlin, East Germany
Height	1.48 m (4 ft 10 in)
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Years on national team	1977–85 (GDR)
Club	SC Dynamo Berlin
Retired	April 1986
Medal record Olympic Games Gold 1980 Moscow Uneven bars Silver 1980 Moscow All-around Bronze 1980 Moscow Team Bronze 1980 Moscow Floor exercise World Championships Gold 1979 Ft. Worth Uneven Bars Gold 1981 Moscow Balance Beam Gold 1981 Moscow Uneven Bars Gold 1981 Moscow Vault Gold 1983 Budapest Uneven Bars Silver 1979 Ft. Worth All-Around Bronze 1979 Ft. Worth Team Bronze 1981 Moscow Team Bronze 1983 Budapest Team European Championships Gold 1981 Madrid All-Around Gold 1981 Madrid Floor Exercise Gold 1981 Madrid Uneven Bars Gold 1981 Madrid Balance Beam Gold 1985 Helsinki Uneven Bars Silver 1979 Copenhagen Vault Silver 1981 Madrid Vault Silver 1985 Helsinki All-Around Bronze 1979 Copenhagen Uneven Bars Friendship Games Gold 1984 Olomouc Uneven Bars Gold 1984 Olomouc Floor Exercise Silver 1984 Olomouc Team Bronze 1984 Olomouc All-Around Bronze 1984 Olomouc Vault World Cup Final Gold 1982 Zagreb Uneven Bars Bronze 1982 Zagreb Floor Exercise

Maxi Gnauck (born October 10, 1964) is a famous former artistic gymnast from East Germany. She is known as one of Germany's most successful female gymnasts ever. Maxi won an amazing 27 medals at major competitions like the Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cups, and European Championships. In 1980, she was even named the East German Sportspersonality of the Year!

Maxi's Early Life and Gymnastics Journey

Maxi's parents expected a boy and had planned the name Max. When she was born a girl, they simply added an 'i' to the name. This made her name, Maxi, quite unique in Germany!

When Maxi was five years old, her mom took her to a gymnastics center. By the time she was eight, Maxi had already won her first medals at a local sports event called the Kreisspartakiade. At nine, she joined a new club, SC Dynamo Berlin, where she was coached by Jürgen Heritz.

Maxi became known as one of the best gymnasts on the uneven bars of all time. She was also excellent at tumbling on the floor. She was one of the first female gymnasts to perform a difficult move called a triple twist on the floor.

Retirement and Life After Gymnastics

In April 1986, Maxi officially announced that she was retiring from gymnastics. After that, she started a four-year course to become a sports coach at the University of Leipzig.

In 1988, while working at a children's summer camp near the Baltic Sea, Maxi had a serious accident. She was sliding down a waterslide and got badly hurt. She broke a bone in her neck, called a C5 vertebra, and was almost unable to move her body. Later, doctors had to put a metal plate in her neck to make three of her vertebrae stronger.

After East and West Germany reunited, Maxi faced new challenges in her coaching career. She took temporary coaching jobs in South Africa and Great Britain in 1990. From 1993 to 2004, she worked as a full-time coach at the Harksheide Gymnastics Center in Norderstedt, near Hamburg. Since 2005, she has been working at a gymnastics center in Liestal, Switzerland.

In 2000, Maxi Gnauck received a very special honor: she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She was the first German gymnast ever to receive this award, showing just how amazing her career was!

See also

In Spanish: Maxi Gnauck para niños

• List of top medalists at the World Artistic Gymnastics Championships