| Erika Zuchold | |
|---|---|
 Zuchold at the 1972 Olympic Games | |
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Country represented |
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Born |
Erika Barth |
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Died |
August 29, 2015 (age 68) |
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Current status |
Deceased |
Erika Zuchold (née Barth; born 19 March 1947 in Lucka, died 29 August in Asuncion), is a former East German gymnast who competed at the European, World, and Olympic level from the mid 1960s to early 1970s.
She, along with Karin Janz, was one of the two most significant (in terms of medals won at major championships) female German gymnasts of her era, co-leading, with Janz, the East German team to both the Team Bronze at the 1968 Olympics and improving upon that, again with Janz, to win the Team Silver at the 1972 Olympics.
Among her many successes, her highlight came at the 1970 World Championships where she placed 2nd in the Individual All-Around behind the Soviet Ludmilla Tourischeva and returned to win Gold on both Vault and Balance Beam in event finals, the latter of which being a fairly controversial win over second-place American Cathy Rigby. Also, the period in-between the 1968 and 1972 Olympics saw Zuchold and Tourischeva being the only two gymnasts to win spots on the Individual All-Around podium at every European and World Championships during that time period (1969 Europeans - 1970 Worlds - 1971 Europeans).
Quite notably, Zuchold is credited as being the first woman to compete the flick-flack element on balance beam at a Worlds or Olympics, at the 1966 World Championships, as well as being one of the first two women, along with Věra Čáslavská at the 1968 Olympics, to compete a front handspring on balance beam.
In her post-gymnastics career, she explored a number of diverse activities and careers, including being a trapeze artist, a curator, an educator, and an abstract painter.
In 2005, Zuchold was inducted into the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She passed away on August 29, 2015 in Paraguay.[1]
Medal Count[]
| Year | Event | TF | AA | VT | UB | BB | FX |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1964 | East German Championships | 1st | 4 | 2nd | 1st | 1st | |
| 1965 | East German Championships | 2nd | 1st | 3rd | |||
| 1966 | East German Championships | 1st | 1st | 6 | 1st | 2nd | |
| Dortmund World Championships | 2nd | ||||||
| 1967 | East German Championships | 2nd | 1st | 2nd | 1st | 1st | |
| Amsterdam European Championships | 2nd | ||||||
| 1968 | East German Championships | 1st | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | |
| Mexico City Olympic Games | 3rd | 2nd | |||||
| 1969 | East German Championships | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | 2nd | ||
| Landskrona European Championships | 2nd | ||||||
| 1970 | Ljubljana World Championships | 2nd | 2nd | 1st | 1st | ||
| 1971 | Minsk European Championships | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | 3rd | ||
| 1972 | Munich Olympic Games | 2nd | 2nd | 3rd |