Erika Zuchold

Erika Zuchold
— Gymnast —
200px Erika Zuchold in 1972
Personal information
Country represented	East Germany
Born	(1947-03-19)March 19, 1947 Lucka
Died	22 August 2015 Asunción
Discipline	Women's artistic gymnastics
Retired	1972
Medal record Olympic Games 1968 Mexico City Vault 1972 Munich Team 1972 Munich Vault 1972 Munich Uneven Bars 1968 Mexico City Team World Championships 1970 Ljubljana Vault 1970 Ljubljana Balance Beam 1966 Dortmund Vault 1970 Ljubljana Team 1970 Ljubljana All-around European Championships 1967 Amsterdam Vault 1969 Landskrona Vault 1969 Landskrona All-Around 1971 Minsk All-Around 1971 Minsk Vault 1971 Minsk Balance Beam 1971 Minsk Floor Exercise

Erika Zuchold (née Barth; born 19 March 1947 in Lucka, died 22 August 2015 in Asunción) was an East German gymnast who competed at the European, World, and Olympic level from the mid-1960s to early 1970s.

She, along with Karin Janz, was one of the two most significant (in terms of medals won at major championships) female German gymnasts of her era, co-leading, with Janz, the East German team to both the Team Bronze at the 1968 Olympics and improving upon that, again with Janz, to win the Team Silver at the 1972 Olympics.

The highlight of her 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.

Quite notably, Zuchold is credited as being the first woman to compete the flick-flack element on balance beam at a Worlds or Olympics, at the 1966 World Championships (performed first time at East German championship 1964 in Halle (Saale)), as well as being one of the first two women, along with Věra Čáslavská at the 1968 Olympics, to compete a front handspring on balance beam. She also had a transition element named after her on uneven bars.

In her post-gymnastics career, she explored a number of diverse activities and careers, including being a trapeze artist, a curator, an educator, and an abstract painter. In 2005, Zuchold was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.

She was married to the cyclist Dieter Zuchold (1937-2014).

See also

• List of top Olympic gymnastics medalists

External links

• Official website (German) (English)
• International Gymnastics Hall of Fame