Anni Friesinger-Postma

Anni Friesinger-Postma

Anni Friesinger at the 2006 Winter Olympics
Personal information
Nationality	German
Born	(1977-01-11) 11 January 1977 Bad Reichenhall, Germany
Height	1.69 m (5 ft 6 1⁄2 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Spouse(s)	Ids Postma (2009)
Sport
Country	Germany
Sport	Speed skating
Turned pro	1993
Coached by	Gianni Romme
Retired	2010
Medal record Women's speed skating Representing  Germany Olympic Games 2002 Salt Lake City 1500 m 2006 Turin Team pursuit 2010 Vancouver Team pursuit 2006 Turin 1000 m 1998 Nagano 3000 m World Allround Championships 2001 Budapest Allround 2002 Heerenveen Allround 2005 Moscow Allround 2007 Heerenveen Allround 1998 Heerenveen Allround World Sprint Championships 2007 Hamar Sprint 2004 Nagano Sprint 2008 Heerenveen Sprint World Single Distance Championships 1998 Calgary 1500 m 2001 Salt Lake City 1500 m 2003 Berlin 1000 m 2003 Berlin 1500 m 2003 Berlin 3000 m 2004 Seoul 1000 m 2004 Seoul 1500 m 2005 Inzell 5000 m 2005 Inzell Team pursuit 2008 Nagano 1000 m 2008 Nagano 1500 m 2009 Vancouver 1500 m 1997 Warsaw 1500 m 1997 Warsaw 3000 m 2000 Nagano 1500 m 2001 Salt Lake City 3000 m 2004 Seoul 3000 m 2005 Inzell 1000 m 2005 Inzell 1500 m 2007 Salt Lake City 1000 m 2009 Vancouver 1000 m 1998 Calgary 3000 m

Anna ("Anni") Christine Friesinger-Postma (born 11 January 1977) is a German former speed skater. Her father Georg Friesinger, of Germany, and mother Janina ("Jana") Korowicka, of Poland, were both skaters; Jana was on the Polish team at the 1976 Winter Olympics. Her brother Jan is also a speed skater. Her sister Agnes is a former speed skater. In July 2010, Friesinger retired from her active sports career when she had to be treated for severe cartilage damage in her right knee joint.^[1]

On 11 August 2009 Friesinger married former Dutch skater Ids Postma, her long-term boyfriend, at Schloss Mirabell. The celebration took place at Schloss Aigen.^[2] As of November 2013,^[3] Friesinger lives in Salzburg, Austria, and is planning to move to the Netherlands to live with Postma on his farm in Dearsum. In August 2011 she gave birth to a daughter.^[4] In May 2014, her second daughter was born.

Sports merits

Championships

Friesinger has won five Olympic medals; gold at the 1500 m in the 2002 Winter Olympics and the team pursuit in the 2006 and 2010 Winter Olympics as well as bronze at the 3000 m in the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 1000 m in the 2006 Winter Olympics. She managed to qualify for the German speed skating team in five events at the 2006 Winter Olympics: the team pursuit and the individual races at 1000 m, 1500 m, 3000 m, and 5000 meters. However, she failed to win gold in any individual events. In the team pursuit semifinal against the United States at the 2010 Olympics, she fell behind her team members and ended up sliding across the finish line on her belly, but Germany still succeeded in advancing to the final.^[5]

As well as being a five-time European Allround Champion and three time, World Allround Champion, Friesinger has won numerous titles in the World Single Distance Championships. Although she originally specialized in the longer distances, she also won the World Sprint Championships in 2007. In this, Friesinger became the fifth skater in history to be a World Champion in both Allround and Sprint disciplines (along with Sylvia Burka, CAN (1976 and 1977); Eric Heiden, U.S. (1977 and 1977); Natalya Petrusyova, URS (1980 and 1982); and Karin Kania-Enke, GDR (1980 and 1982)).

Records

Friesinger has set the world record at the 1500 m distance four times during her career, but the record has since been superseded by Canadian competitor Cindy Klassen.

Source: SpeedskatingResults.com^[6]

World records

Event	Time	Date	Venue
1500 m	1:56.95	29 March 1998	Calgary
1500 m	1:54.38	4 March 2001	Calgary
1500 m	1:54.02	20 February 2002	Salt Lake City
1500 m	1:53.22	6 November 2005	Calgary

Source: SpeedSkatingStats.com^[7]

Non-sport activities

Friesinger has done some modeling work as a sideline, and she has appeared as a swimsuit model in several publications. She is also known for her particularly powerful thighs,^[8] as befits a champion speed skater.

Autobiography

• Mein Leben, mein Sport, meine besten Fitness-Tipps ("My Life, My Sport, My Best Fitness Tips"). March 2004, Goldmann. ISBN 3-442-39059-1 (in German).

References

External links

• Official website(in German) and (in Dutch)
• Anni Friesinger at Speed Skating Stats
• Anni Friesinger Fan Site – at Skate Log, edited by Kathie Fry
• Photos of Anni Friesinger – at Lars Hagen's DESG Photo website

Awards
Preceded by Jochem Uytdehaage	Oscar Mathisen Award 2003	Succeeded by Chad Hedrick