Christiane Knacke

Christiane Knacke was an East German butterfly swimmer who won the bronze medal at the 1980 Moskva Summer Olympics in the 100 metres behind her team-mates Caren Metschuck and Andrea Pollack. At the 1977 European Championships she won the silver medal, and on 28 August that year, she became the first female swimmer under one minute for the 100 metres butterfly, setting a new world record of 59.78 seconds.

Knacke retired in 1981 and became a secretary at Interhotel in Berlin. After her marriage to GDR politician Ralf Driesener, she entered a position at the GDR Service Office for Foreign Representations and got acquainted with an Austrian politician. She and Driesener divorced and Knacke emigrated to Austria, re-married and lived in Vienna.

After German re-unification it became known that Knacke’s performances should be viewed in a different light due to the systematic administration of illegal performance-enhancing substances by GDR sports officials, doctors and trainers. Knacke also confirmed that she had taken doping substances, and was later a witness against her former trainers.