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Sylke Otto (born July 7, 1969 in Chemnitz) is a former German luger who competed from 1991 to 2007. Competing in three Winter Olympics, she won the gold medal in the women's singles event in 2002 and 2006.
Otto won twelve medals at the FIL World Luge Championships with six golds (Women's singles: 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005; Mixed team: 2003, 2005), three silvers (Mixed team: 1997, 2000, 2001), and three bronzes (Women's singles: 1999, 2004; Mixed team: 1999).
She also won eight medals at the FIL European Luge Championships with five golds (Women's singles: 2000, 2002; Mixed team: 1990, 1992, 2000), two silvers (Women's singles: 1992, Mixed team: 2002), and one bronze (Women's singles: 2004). Otto finished in the top three of the Luge World Cup standings every year from 1999 to 2006, winning the overall title four times (1994-5, 1999-2000, 2002-3, 2003-4). She won a record 37 World Cup races in total during her career.
[edit] Retirement
She retired from the sport on 12 January 2007 due to pregnancy. It was also due to a crash suffered at Königssee, Germany the previous week followed by watching the crash of Russia's Albert Demtschenko at Oberhof, Germany that same week. Otto had initially planned on retiring at the World Luge Championships in Igls, Austria (Located southeast of Innsbruck) in February, but her and Demtschenko's accident changed that. She has one daughter Sina born on May 29, 2007. A retirement ceremony for Otto took place prior to the start of the women's singles event at the 2008 FIL World Luge Championships in Oberhof, Germany on January 25th.
[edit] Other information
Otto was one of the torch bearers for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece as it traveled through Berlin, Germany.
[edit] References
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World champions in mixed team relay luge. |
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| Six per team |
1989: Italy ( Hansjörg Raffl, Gerhard Plankensteiner, Gerda Weissensteiner, Veronika Oberhuber, & Norbert Huber) * 1990: East Germany ( Jens Müller, Thomas Jacob, Gabriele Kohlisch, Susi Erdmann, Jörg Hoffmann, & Jochen Pietzsch) * 1991: Germany ( Georg Hackl, Jens Müller, Susi Erdmann, Gabriele Kohlisch, Stefan Krausse, & Jan Behrendt) * 1993: Germany ( Georg Hackl, René Friedl, Gabriele Kohlisch, Stefan Krausse, & Jan Behrendt) * 1995: Germany ( Georg Hackl, Jens Müller, Gabriele Kohlisch, Susi Erdmann, Stefan Krausse, & Jan Behrendt) * 1996: Austria ( Markus Prock, Markus Schmidt, Angelika Neuner, Andrea Tagwerker, Tobias Schiegl, & Markus Schiegl) * 1997: Austria ( Markus Prock, Gerhard Gleirscher, Andrea Tagwerker, Angelika Neuner, Tobias Schiegl, & Markus Schiegl) |
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| Four per team |
1999: Austria ( Markus Prock, Andrea Tagwerker, Tobias Schiegl, & Markus Schiegl) * 2000: Germany ( Georg Hackl, Silke Kraushaar, Steffen Skel, & Steffen Wöller) * 2001: Germany ( Georg Hackl, Silke Kraushaar, Patric Leitner, & Alexander Resch) * 2003: Germany ( Georg Hackl, Sylke Otto, Patric Leitner, & Alexander Resch) * 2004: Germany ( David Möller, Barbara Niedernhuber, Patric Leitner & Alexander Resch) * 2005: Germany ( Georg Hackl, Sylke Otto, André Florschütz, & Torsten Wustlich) * 2007: Germany ( David Möller, Silke Kraushaar-Pielach, Patric Leitner, & Alexander Resch) |
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| Four per team as relay |
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European champions in mixed team relay luge. |
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| Six per team |
1988: West Germany ( Georg Hackl, Johannes Schettel, Kerstin Langkopf, Veronika Bilgeri, Thomas Schwab & Wolfgang Staudinger) · 1990: East Germany ( Jens Müller, René Friedl, Susi Erdmann, Sylke Otto, Jörg Hoffmann & Jochen Pietzsch) · 1992: Germany ( Georg Hackl, René Friedl, Susi Erdmann, Sylke Otto, Yves Mankel & Thomas Rudolph) · 1994: Italy ( Armin Zöggeler, Norbert Huber, Gerda Weissensteiner, Natalie Obkircher, Kurt Brugger & Wilfried Huber) · 1996: Germany - Jens Müller, Georg Hackl, Jana Bode, Susi Erdmann, Stefan Krauße & Jan Behrendt · 1998: Germany ( Jens Müller, Karsten Albert, Susi Erdmann, Silke Kraushaar, Stefan Krausse & Jan Behrendt) |
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| Four per team |
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| Four per team as relay |
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