Rosemarie Gabriel
Introduction


**Rosemarie Gabriel** ( **Kother**, born 27 February 1956\) is a retired German swimmer. She competed at the 1972 and 1976 Summer Olympics in five events in total and won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m medley relay in 1976, swimming for the East German team in a preliminary round. Individually, she won a bronze medal in the 200 m butterfly in 1976\.

Between 1973 and 1975 she won seven gold and two silver medals in the 100 m and 200 m butterfly and 4 × 100 m medley relay at the world and European championships. She also set eleven world records: 
* three in the [100 m butterfly](/wiki/World_record_progression_100_metres_butterfly "World record progression 100 metres butterfly") (1974\),
* five in the [200 m butterfly](/wiki/World_record_progression_200_metres_butterfly "World record progression 200 metres butterfly") (1973, 1976\),
* two in the [4 × 100 m medley relay](/wiki/World_record_progression_4_%C3%97_100_metres_medley_relay "World record progression 4 × 100 metres medley relay") (1973, 1974\) and
* one in the [4 × 100 m freestyle relay](/wiki/World_record_progression_4_%C3%97_100_metres_freestyle_relay "World record progression 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay") (1976\).

In 1986, she was inducted to the [International Swimming Hall of Fame](/wiki/International_Swimming_Hall_of_Fame "International Swimming Hall of Fame").

After being inducted into the International Swimming Hall of Fame, team officials confessed to administering performance enhancing drugs to this swimmer, who therefore obtained an illegal and unfair advantage over other athletes.

She retired from competitions in 1976 and studied [physiotherapy](/wiki/Physiotherapy "Physiotherapy"). In 1990 she founded her own company Praxis Gabriel in Berlin, which in 2000 was joined by her daughter Linda (born ca. 1981\).


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