Sylvia Schenk

Middle-distance runner and former tennis player Sylvia Schenk reached the semi-finals of the 800 at the 1972 München Olympics. She also competed at the 1971 and 1974 European Championships. In West Germany she earned the 800 title in 1972 and a cross-country title in 1974. Schenk helped set a world record in 1971 in the 4x800 relay. In 1989 she married her teammate Franz-Josef Kemper.

Schenk later became well-known as a lawyer, who fought against doping and corruption in international sport organizations (like FIFA and the IOC). She became a multi-sports administrator in the German Sports Association DSB and other organizations – 1976-86 in the Women’s Committee; 1979-86 Youth Head of Employment Tribunal Frankfurt; from 1990 a member and from 1994 chairwoman of the DSB Federal Legal, Taxes & Insurance Committee. Schenk was vice-president of the German Olympian Society from 1994-97. In 1994, she was named President of the Sports Committee of the Hessian Association of Cities. She was also a member of the German NOC starting in 1997 and member of the Sports Committee of the German Association of Cities.

Outside of sports Schenk served first as a lawyer and traffic judge, then from 1979-89 was Judge at the Employment Tribunal Offenbach, and finally from 1989-2001 was Councillor of the City of Frankfurt am Main (and also Deputy Mayor for Legal, Sport and Women). In June 2000 she became a member of the Management Committee of the International Cycling Union (UCI) and a member of the Presidium of the Association of German Cycling Union (BDR), serving as President of the BDR from 2001-04.

In 2006-13 Schenk was a member of the board of Transparency International Germany, serving as chair in 2007-10. In January 2014, she became head of the Working Group on Sports in that organization.

Personal Best: 800 – 2:01.50 (1972).