Katrin Borchert

Katrin Borchert (born 4 November 1969) is an East German-born Australian sprint canoeist who competed from the late 1980s to 2001. Competing in three Summer Olympics, she won three medals with one silver (1992: K-4 500 m for Germany) and two bronzes (both Australia, 1996: K-2 500 m, 2000: K-1 500 m). During her career, she has represented four countries: East Germany, then West Germany, then Germany followed by Australia.

Katrin Borchert

Personal information
Born	4 November 1969 Waren, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, East Germany
Height	178 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)
Sport
Sport	Canoe sprint
Club	SC Neubrandenburg Gold Coast Canoe/Kayak Club
Medal record Women's canoe sprint Representing  East Germany World Championships 1989 Plovdiv K-1 500 m 1989 Plovdiv K-1 5000 m 1989 Plovdiv K-4 500 m Representing  West Germany World Championships 1990 Poznań K-1 5000 m 1990 Poznań K-1 500 m 1990 Poznań K-2 500 m 1990 Poznań K-4 500 m Representing  Germany Olympic Games 1992 Barcelona K-4 500 m World Championships 1991 Paris K-1 500 m 1991 Paris K-4 500 m 1991 Paris K-1 5000 m Representing  Australia Olympic Games 1996 Atlanta K-2 500 m 2000 Sydney K-1 500 m World Championships 1997 Dartmouth K-2 500 m 1997 Dartmouth K-2 1000 m 1998 Szeged K-2 500 m 1998 Szeged K-2 1000 m 1998 Szeged K-1 500 m 1998 Szeged K-1 1000 m 1999 Milan K-2 1000 m 2001 Poznań K-1 500 m 2001 Poznań K-2 1000 m 2001 Poznań K-1 1000 m

Borchert was born in 1969 in Waren an der Müritz, a town in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, East Germany.[1] She won the Junior World Championship in 1987 but was overshadowed by Birgit Fischer. Borchert went to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Korea, as a reserve for East Germany but did not compete. Her opportunity arose when Fischer went on maternity leave after the Seoul Olympics; she won three gold medals at the 1989 World Championships in Plovdiv.[2]

Borchert and her coach, Kersten Neumann, went to West Germany for the 1990 season; this was a year prior to the German reunification. From a base in Essen, she competed at the 1990 World Championships and won one gold medal and three bronze medals. In 1991, she competed for the reunited Germany and won two gold medals and a bronze medal at the World Championships.[2]

Fischer made a return for the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona, Spain, and old rivalries became hostile when Borchert lost nomination to Fischer in the K-1 and K-2, and only got nominated for the K-4. Things came to a head when the national coach, Joseph Capousek, did not nominate Borchert for the 1993 World Championships; Capousek was at the time in a relationship with Fischer. Borchert resigned from the national team in 1993 and in February 1994, she emigrated to Australia.[2]

Borchert won K-2 500 m and K-2 1000 m events at the 1998 World Championships in Hungary with Anna Wood. They won the K-2 1000 m world champion title in 1999. Borchert would win a total of twenty medals at the ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships with nine golds for four different countries (1989 for East Germany, 1990 for West Germany, 1991-93 for Germany, and 1994–2001 for Australia). At the Sydney Olympics the pairing finished sixth in the K-2 500 m, while she won bronze in the K-1 500 m event.

In March 2003, Borchert decided to return to Germany to win nomination for the 2004 German Olympic team.[2] She was prevented from competing for Germany at the 2003 World Championships through the Australian Canoe Federation not granting their permission quickly enough.

In 2009 Borchert was inducted into the Queensland Sport Hall of Fame.[3]

References

1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Katrin Borchert". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 17 December 2018.
2. Kluge, Volker (2004). Das große Lexikon der DDR-Sportler: Die 1000 erfolgreichsten und populärsten Sportlerinnen und Sportler aus der DDR, ihre Erfolge, Medaillen und Biographien [The big lexicon of the GDR athletes: The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes, medals and biographies.] (in German) (2 ed.). Berlin: Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf Verlag. p. 58. ISBN 3-89602-538-4.
3. "Ms Katrin Borchert". Queensland Sport Hall of Fame. qsport.org.au. Archived from the original on 17 December 2018. Retrieved 20 January 2014.

• Australian Broadcasting Company profile
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007 at WebCite (archived 21 January 2009). Additional archives: Wayback Machine.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007 at WebCite (archived 9 November 2009)
• Wallechinsky, David and Jaime Loucky (2008). "Canoeing: Women's Kayak Pairs 500 Meters." In The Complete Book of the Olympics: 2008 Edition. London: Aurum Press Limited. p. 493.