The Most Famous

SWIMMERS from Germany

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This page contains a list of the greatest German Swimmers. The pantheon dataset contains 709 Swimmers, 34 of which were born in Germany. This makes Germany the birth place of the 3rd most number of Swimmers behind United States, and Australia.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary German Swimmers of all time. This list of famous German Swimmers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of German Swimmers.

Photo of Roland Matthes

1. Roland Matthes (1950 - 2019)

With an HPI of 53.07, Roland Matthes is the most famous German Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages on wikipedia.

Roland Matthes (German pronunciation: [ˈʁoːlant ˈmatəs], ; 17 November 1950 – 20 December 2019) was a German swimmer and the most successful backstroke swimmer of all time. Between April 1967 and August 1974 he won all backstroke competitions he entered. He won four European championships and three world championships in a row, and swam 19 world and 28 European records in various backstroke, butterfly and medley events. He was trained by Marlies Grohe.

Photo of Kornelia Ender

2. Kornelia Ender (b. 1958)

With an HPI of 49.19, Kornelia Ender is the 2nd most famous German Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 28 different languages.

Kornelia Ender (later Matthes now Grummt, born 25 October 1958) is a former East German swimmer who at the 1976 Summer Olympics became the first woman swimmer to win four gold medals at a single Olympic Games, all in world record times. It was later proven that the East German team doctors had systematically administered steroids to their athletes (albeit without the athletes' knowledge). As she had exhibited symptoms of steroid use in 1976 (deep voice, overdeveloped body), strong suspicion was cast on the validity of Ender's accomplishments. Ender trained from a young age and won her first Olympic medals as a 13-year-old at the 1972 Olympics in Munich: three silver medals, including one in the 200 m individual medley, finishing behind Australia's Shane Gould. Over the following years she broke 32 world records in individual events, including the four at the Montreal Games. In 1991, she addressed the long-held suspicions about her physical condition at the 1976 Games, acknowledging that team doctors and coaches had given her numerous injections of drugs over the preceding months (cf. doping in East Germany). Ender said that she did not know at the time, nor had she ever subsequently found out, exactly what the drugs were. She said she was told only that the drugs would help her "regenerate and recuperate" and therefore, although she was surprised by the muscle mass she added, she nonetheless attributed it simply to her rigorous training. When she became suspicious and refused to take chlorodehydromethyltestosterone in 1977 she was banned from the team by Manfred Ewald. Ender was married for four years to East German backstroke swimmer and multiple Olympic champion Roland Matthes. She is now married to former East German track and field athlete and bobsledder Steffen Grummt.

Photo of Hilde Schrader

3. Hilde Schrader (1910 - 1966)

With an HPI of 47.59, Hilde Schrader is the 3rd most famous German Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Hildegard "Hilde" Schrader (4 January 1910 – 23 March 1966) was a German swimmer who won the 200 m breaststroke event at the 1928 Summer Olympics and 1927 European Championships. She also set two world records in obsolete breaststroke events, one in the 400 m (1928) and one in the 200 yd (1929). In 1994 she was inducted to the International Swimming Hall of Fame.

Photo of Erich Rademacher

4. Erich Rademacher (1901 - 1979)

With an HPI of 46.88, Erich Rademacher is the 4th most famous German Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Fritz Albert Erich "Ete" Rademacher (9 June 1901 – 2 April 1979) was a German breaststroke swimmer and water polo goalkeeper who competed at the 1928 and 1932 Olympics. In 1928 he was a member of the German water polo team that won the gold medal, he also won a silver medal in the 200 metres breaststroke. Four years later he won another silver medal with the German water polo team.

Photo of Barbara Krause

5. Barbara Krause (b. 1959)

With an HPI of 46.73, Barbara Krause is the 5th most famous German Swimmer.  Her biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Barbara Krause (later Wanja, born on 7 July 1959 in East Berlin) is a former freestyle swimmer from East Germany. She was a three-time Olympic gold medalist and eight-time world record holder. At the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, Krause won gold medals in the 100 m and 200 m freestyle and in the 4×100 m freestyle relay. Her husband, Lutz Wanja, is also a retired German Olympic swimmer.

Photo of Emil Rausch

6. Emil Rausch (1883 - 1954)

With an HPI of 46.69, Emil Rausch is the 6th most famous German Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Emil A. Rausch (11 September 1883 – 14 December 1954) was a German freestyle swimmer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics and 1906 Intercalated Games. In the 1904 Olympics, he won gold medals in the 880 yard freestyle and 1 mile freestyle and a bronze medal in the 220 yard freestyle. Two years later, he won a silver medal as a member of German 4x250 m relay team and was fifth in 1 mile freestyle.

Photo of Georg Zacharias

7. Georg Zacharias (1884 - 1953)

With an HPI of 45.62, Georg Zacharias is the 7th most famous German Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Georg Zacharias (14 June 1884 – 31 July 1953) was a German backstroke and breaststroke swimmer who competed in the 1904 Summer Olympics. He was born in Gdańsk and died in Berlin. In the 1904 Olympics he won a gold medal in the 440 yard breaststroke and a bronze medal in the 100 yard backstroke.

Photo of Max Hainle

8. Max Hainle (1882 - 1961)

With an HPI of 45.39, Max Hainle is the 8th most famous German Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Max Otto Hainle (23 February 1882 in Dortmund – 19 April 1961) was a German swimmer who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was born in Dortmund. As a member of the German swimming team he won the gold medal at the Paris Games. He also competed in the 1000 metre freestyle event and finished fourth.

Photo of Michael Gross

9. Michael Gross (b. 1964)

With an HPI of 45.11, Michael Gross is the 9th most famous German Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Michael Groß (German pronunciation: [ˈmɪçaːʔeːl ˈɡʁoːs] ; born 17 June 1964), usually spelled Michael Gross in English, is a former competitive swimmer from Germany. He is 201 centimetres (6 ft 7 in) tall, and received the nickname "The Albatross" for his especially long arms that gave him a total span of 2.13 meters. Gross, competing for West Germany, won three Olympic gold medals, two in 1984 and one in 1988 in the freestyle and butterfly events, in addition to two World Championship titles in 1982, two in 1986 and one in 1991.

Photo of Max Schöne

10. Max Schöne (1880 - 1961)

With an HPI of 44.58, Max Schöne is the 10th most famous German Swimmer.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Max Schöne (January 20, 1880 – January 16, 1961) was a German swimmer who competed in the 1900 Summer Olympics. He was born in Berlin. As a member of the German swimming team he won the gold medal at the Paris 1900 edition.

People

Pantheon has 80 people classified as German swimmers born between 1880 and 2004. Of these 80, 67 (83.75%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living German swimmers include Kornelia Ender, Barbara Krause, and Michael Gross. The most famous deceased German swimmers include Roland Matthes, Hilde Schrader, and Erich Rademacher. As of April 2024, 46 new German swimmers have been added to Pantheon including Otto Fahr, Wilhelm Lützow, and Kathleen Nord.

Living German Swimmers

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Deceased German Swimmers

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Newly Added German Swimmers (2024)

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Overlapping Lives

Which Swimmers were alive at the same time? This visualization shows the lifespans of the 11 most globally memorable Swimmers since 1700.