Alexander Leipold

German freestyle wrestler Alexander Leipold competed in the lightweight class at the 1988 Seoul Olympics and finished seventh representing West Germany. He then started for re-unified Germany in 1992-96 in the welterweight class. At Barcelona he was eliminated in the group stage and at Atlanta he placed fifth.

In 2000 at Sydney Leipold moved to middleweight and seemingly won the gold medal. That lasted about three weeks until Leipold’s doping test turned positive for nandrolone, an anabolic steroid. He was disqualified and USA wrestler Brandon Slay moved up to the gold medal.

Leipold then tried in vain to sue the IOC for irregularities in the doping test. Nevertheless, since the lawsuit he has been allowed to call himself “Winner of the Olympic Games in Sydney 2000”, although without being included in the statistics. He was rehabilitated by the independent Steiner Commission in 2010.

Leipold won several international medals including the 1994 gold medal at the Worlds, adding three silvers in 1995, 1997 and 1999. He completed his collection with a bronze medal in 1998. At the Europeans he won gold in 1991, 1995, and 1998, silver in 1997 and 2003, and finally bronze in 1994 and 1999. Nationally, he won 21 German titles.

Due to a serious viral disease, Leipold suffered three strokes in quick succession in 2003, from which he fully recovered. He later became a coach and graduated in 2009 from the Deutsche Sporthochschule at Köln. From 2009-12 he was appointed National Chief Coach for freestyle wrestlers. He eventually coached KSV Ispringen as chief coach.

In 2013, he was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Federal Republic of Germany for his performance as a sporting role model and his great voluntary commitment as ambassador of the German Stroke Aid Foundation.