Silke Fittinger

Far left forward Silke Fittinger was a German handball player who was on the losing side in the third-place match at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, when Germany lost 24-20 to the Unified Team EUN. After reunification she won the silver medal at the 1994 European Championships. She won 140 international caps and scored 390 goals.

Domestically, Fittinger played in the former GDR with ASK Vorwärts Frankfurt on Oder until 1990, winning the national titles in 1986-87 and 1990. She also helped them win the IHF-Cup in 1985 and 1990. After reunification she moved to TuS Walle Bremen (1990-96), helping them win four national titles in 1991-92 and 1994-95, the German Cup three times from 1993-95, and the European Cup Winner’s Cup in 1994. From 1996-98 she played with Borussia Dortmund. In 1998, she moved to Italy to play with Vegasio Verona. Returning to Germany, she played with Teutonia Riemke, HG Remscheid, and HSV Solingen-Gräfrath in lower leagues.

Fittinger was named Handball Player of the Year in 1989 in the former GDR and was also named MVP at the 1994 Europeans. She became a massage therapist and medical lifeguard by profession with her own practice in her hometown Burscheid. She married former basketball player Hansi Gnad and raised two sons.