Rower Christiane Knetsch was a member of the East German gold medal winning coxed eights at the 1976 Montréal Olympics. Under her married name Christiane Köpke, she won another gold at the 1980 Moskva Summer Games. In 1975, she was also a member of the gold medal winning eights at the World Championships and in 1978 won the silver medal.
From 1973-75 she won three consecutive national titles. Köpke later studied law and became a member of the People’s police in the former GDR. After re-unification she was adopted by the Federal Police.