Carola Zirzow

Flatwater canoeist Carloa Zirzow won the bronze medal at the 1976 Montréal Olympics, partnering Bärbel Köster in the K-2 500, and the gold medal in the K-1 500. Zirzow also won three gold medals at World Championships, in the K-4 500 (1974-75) and K-2 500 (1974). She qualified for the Montréal Games as the East German national K-1 500 champion.

Directly after her winning her Olympic gold, Zirzow did not return to the Olympic village, but stayed with her then-boyfriend, Oreste Perri, overnight. Manfred Ewald, the highest sports administrator of the former GDR, decided to end her career, and she was not allowed to continue as a canoeist. She then trained as a physiotherapist, and later worked as assistant to her husband in his ENT physician’s practice.