Rower Kerstin, twin sister of Manja Kowalski, won gold medals with the German quadruple sculls at both the 2000 Sydney and 2004 Athens Olympics. In 1999 and 2002 she added two more gold medals at the World Championships and a bronze in 2003. In 2001 she also won gold at the Worlds with the double sculls. Kowalski was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sports award.
Kowalski had already won three gold medals at Under-23 Worlds (1995-97) and one at the Youth Worlds (1994). Domestically, she won the double sculls national title from 2001-03 and in the quadruple sculls from 2000-02. Kowalski was briefly married to non-Olympian rower Iradj El-Qalqili. By profession, she became an ergo therapist working in a neurologic rehabilitation clinic at Werder.
Germany