Harriet Blank

Harriet Blank competed at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics where she was eliminated in the heats of the 400 IM. In East Germany she earned several podiums at the national championships and claimed her only individual title in 1962 by winning the same event.

Blank married football coach Jörg Berger (1944-2010) in 1968. Berger fled to the West in 1979 and coached several clubs in the West German Bundesliga such as Eintracht Frankfurt, FC Schalke 04, KSV Hessen Kassel, Alemannia Aachen, and after reunification, Hansa Rostock. Harriet Blank and Berger divorced, so she raised their son Ron, but stayed in Leipzig. She later played tennis in Leipzig and was very successful with Leipziger TC 1990 in her senior years.