Sprinter Burghardt takes bronze in the elite circle
The first Olympic medal for sprinter Alexandra Burghardt came in the Winter. Now she also has one from the Summer Games. This feat is rarely achieved. Before her, legendary German athlete Christa Luding-Rothenburger accomplished this.
At some point before this surprising bronze win, Alexandra Burghardt had looked into which exclusive group she could join. And when the German sprinter actually became one of the seven people who could win an Olympic medal at both the Summer and Winter Games, she felt great about it.
"It's a nice round number, I still haven't quite processed it. It's quite special," said Burghardt after finishing third in the women's 4x100m relay. Along with Lisa Mayer, Gina Lückenkemper, and Rebekka Haase, the Burghausen native surprised everyone on Friday night with a time of 41.97 seconds, finishing behind the USA and Britain.
At the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, the now 30-year-old had already stood on the Olympic podium as a pusher for bobsled pilot Mariama Jamanka, winning silver. Now, she is the first German since reunification to celebrate a medal at both Olympic events. "That wasn't my primary goal, I didn't think about it all day."
Before Burghardt, Christa Luding-Rothenburger had achieved this. The former speed skater won a silver medal in cycling after her Olympic victories in Calgary (1988) and Sarajevo (1984). The last double medal winner before Burghardt was Eddy Alvarez, who won silver in short track in 2014 in Sochi - and also finished second with the US baseball team in Tokyo 2021.
Burghardt assured that she would continue to focus on athletics, her success in the ice rink was just a detour. In the summer of 2022, she had already won the EM title with the DLV relay team in Munich. She celebrated her success with a glass of champagne under the Eiffel Tower with her friend Philipp Altenbuchner in the early hours of the morning: "That's amazing."
Alexandra Burghardt's achievements in both Athletics and Winter Sports are truly remarkable. Previously, she had only won an Olympic medal in the Winter Games, but now she has added a Summer Games medal to her collection, joining an exclusive group of athletes who have achieved this feat.
