Britta Heidemann

German épée fencer Britta Heidemann was already a successful track and field athlete and swimmer before she took up fencing and, until 2000, also competed in the modern pentathlon. She was extremely popular, especially since she spoke fluent Chinese. However, some of her statements against the Chinese authorities, which she defended, were met with criticism. This was particularly true during the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, where she had the honour of being the first foreign athlete to appear on the Chinese version of Sportstudio.

Heidemann won a team silver medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics and placed tenth individually. At Beijing four years later, she won the individual gold medal as the highlight of her career and at London 2012 she added an individual silver medal and came fifth with the team. In 2002, she won an individual bronze and six more team bronzes in 2005-09 and 2013 at the World Championships. She also won the individual gold medal in 2007 and three team silvers in 2003, 2010 and 2014.

At the European Championships, she won the individual gold medal in 2009, a silver in 2011, and bronze in 2007. She also won team silver in 2008, and team bronze in 2006. In 2016, she was elected to the IOC Athletes’ Commission until 2024. She was also a member of the presidium of the German Olympic Sports Confederation DOSB. She became a board member of the Olympic Refuge Foundation in 2024.

In 2004, Heidemann posed nude for the German magazine Playboy. She worked as a freelance management consultant specialising in Chinese relations, renewable energy, sports, and management. In 2009, she was honoured with the Sparkasse Award for Role Models in Sport. In 2004, 2008 and 2012, she was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award, and in 2025 was inducted into the German Sports Hall of Fame.