Kristin Otto

East German swimmer who became the first woman to win six gold medals at a single Olympic Games, at Seoul 1988, though her achievements are viewed in the context of East Germany's state doping program.

Born in Leipzig, East Germany, on 7 February 1966, Kristin Otto entered a specialized sports school at age 11 after being identified by East Germany's talent-scouting system. She set her first world record as part of a medley relay in 1982 and was a favourite heading into the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, but East Germany's boycott of those Games denied her the chance to compete. Otto's career reached its peak at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, where she entered six events and won gold in all of them: the 50m and 100m freestyle, 100m backstroke, 100m butterfly, and both the 4x100m freestyle and medley relays. No woman had previously won more than four golds at a single Games, and her performance remains one of the most decorated single-Olympics hauls by any female athlete in any sport. Otto retired from swimming immediately after the 1988 Games and was inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame in 1993. Following German reunification, however, Stasi documents confirmed that East Germany operated a state-run doping program, State Plan 14.25, that administered anabolic steroids to athletes including Otto; she has denied knowingly taking any banned substance and never failed an IOC-administered test, though Swimming World magazine later stripped her and several East German contemporaries of their World Swimmer of the Year titles in light of the evidence. Otto's medals remain officially recognised by the IOC. She has worked since her retirement as a sports reporter for German television.

Versatile across freestyle, backstroke and butterfly

Holds the women's record for golds at one Olympics, though her career is inseparable from East Germany's state doping program