Erika Zuchold
Erika Zuchold was an East German gymnast who competed at the European, World, and Olympic level from the mid-1960s to early 1970s.
She and Karin Janz were the two most significant female German gymnasts of the era, leading the East German team to a bronze medal at the 1968 Olympics and a silver medal at the 1972 Olympics.
The highlight of Zuchold's career came at the 1970 World Championships, where she placed second in the individual all-around behind the Soviet Ludmilla Tourischeva and returned to win gold on both vault and balance beam in event finals.
Zuchold is credited as being the first woman to perform a back handspring on balance beam in World or Olympic competition, as well as one of the first two women, along with Věra Čáslavská at the 1968 Olympics, to complete a front handspring on balance beam. She also had a transition element named after her on uneven bars.
In her post-gymnastics career, she was a trapeze artist, a curator, an educator, and an abstract painter. In 2005, she was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame.
She was married to the cyclist Dieter Zuchold.
