Handball player Kristina Richter won a silver medal at the 1976 Montréal Olympics and bronze four years later in Moskva, when she also was the East German flagbearer at the Opening Ceremony (first ever German team sport athlete). She earned 134 caps, scoring 880 goals in her international career. Richter was on World Champion teams in 1971, 1975 and 1978. With TSC Berlin she won the European Champions Cup in 1978 and the European Cup Winners’ Cup in 1977 and 1979. Domestically she was on East German champions in 1974, 1977-78, and 1980, also winning the East German Cup in 1977-80.
Until 1962 Richter was a sprinter and long jumper, before moving to handball. She then became one of the world’s best handball,players ever. Her husband was Dagobert Richter, cycling coach for Erik Zabel, among others. By profession she was a graduate sports teacher. In 1994 she was national coach for a short period, after which she coached her former homeclub, TSC Berlin. In 2016, she was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame.
East Germany