Rainer Strohbach

Rainer Strohbach was an East German freestyle swimmer who competed at both the 1976 Montréal and the 1980 Moskva Summer Olympics. In 1976, he finished fifth with the East German 4x200 metres freestyle relay and was eliminated in the individual 200 and 400 metres freestyle. Four years later he won a silver medal with the relay and came in an unfortunate fourth in the 1,500 metres. In the 400 metres, he was again eliminated in the heats.

Strohbach won 13 East German national titles (200 freestyle – 1975; 400 freestyle – 1975, 1978, 1980-81; 1,500 freestyle – 1975-76, 1978-81; both 4x100 and 4x200 relays – 1975). Strohbach later married rower Kirsten Wenzel but they later divorced. He became a swimming coach in the GDR, but after re-unification he worked as a salesman. After German re-unification, former East German officials admitted to administering doping to nearly all their swimmers, including Strohbach.