Barbara Krause

East German freestyle swimmer and three-time Olympic gold medalist at the 1980 Moscow Games, the first woman to swim the 100m freestyle in under 55 seconds.

Born in East Berlin on 7 July 1959, Barbara Krause emerged as one of the world's premier freestylers in the late 1970s, winning her first international title in the 4x100m freestyle relay at the 1975 World Championships. She was the only woman to beat East German teammate Kornelia Ender in 1976, though illness kept her from competing at the Montreal Olympics that year. With Ender retired, Krause became the world's dominant sprint freestyler, setting eight world records across the 100m, 200m and 400m freestyle and relay events. She won the 100m freestyle at the 1978 World Championships and became European champion in three events in 1977. Krause's career peaked at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, where she won three gold medals in the 100m and 200m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle relay. In the 100m final she became the first woman to swim under 55 seconds, lowering her own world record to 54.79. She did not swim the medley relay in Moscow, meaning her haul could plausibly have been four golds. Krause was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1988. Following German reunification, evidence emerged confirming that she, like most of her East German teammates, competed under the country's state-run doping program, State Plan 14.25; Swimming World later stripped her of her European Swimmer of the Year honour in light of the revelations. She married her East German swimming teammate Lutz Wanja after the 1980 Games.

Powerful sprint freestyle specialist

One of the dominant sprint freestylers of her era, whose career is viewed in the context of East Germany's state doping program