Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt

Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt
nation	Germany
birthday	May 15, 1975
place of birth	Potsdam ,  GDR
Weight	135 kg
job	Doctor's assistant
Career
graduation	6th Dan  - Rokudan
society	PSG Dynamo Brandenburg
status	not active
End of career	2008

Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt (born May 15, 1975 in Potsdam ) is a former German judoka and sumo fighter . She is a trained doctor's assistant and until 2010 was a sports soldier in the Frankfurt (Oder) sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr .

biography

Köppen began her athletic career as a track and field athlete and became a successful judo fighter (6th Dan ) in the highest weight class over 78 kg from 1989  . She took part in the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney , 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing .

In 1998, Köppen began parallel with sumo wrestling, where she fought in the open class (the highest weight class without weight restrictions) and is now one of the most successful female athletes (7th  Dan ). They made their successes known even in Japan, the country of origin of sumo. But in Germany, too, these successes and the unusual nature of the sport, which is largely unknown and exotic in Europe and which is atypical for women, gave her a certain popularity. The approximately 135 kg heavy Köppen used this popularity to increase public interest in her sport, to fight against reservations and prejudices that are associated with sumo wrestling in Germany and its heavy, apparently clumsy protagonists, and to show that heavy weight and apparent obesity on the one hand and agility, speed and athleticism on the other hand are not mutually exclusive.

At the end of 2008 she retired from active sports. With a B license, she is still connected to her sport as a trainer at PSG Dynamo Brandenburg Mitte and has won several championship titles and top ranks in the judo Bundesliga with her women's team .

The intensive training loads, which - "tough" (self-statement) - were often not given serious medical care, led to severe joint damage. After the end of his career, the right shoulder and both knee joints had to be replaced with prostheses twice. Nevertheless, in 2013 she was temporarily dependent on a wheelchair due to knee problems and was unable to work.

Köppen lives in Schenkenberg, Brandenburg (municipality of Groß Kreutz (Havel) ) and has been married to her long-time trainer Wolfgang Zuckschwerdt (* 1949) since 2006 . They are parents of their daughter Marie-Luis Zuckschwerdt (* 2005), who, like her parents, is a sumo athlete and took part in the sumo world championship for the first time in 2018; In 2019 she became two-time European champion (U 14) at the Sumo Cadet European Championship.

Sporting successes

Judo

• 1998 bronze medalist European Championship (+78)
• 1999 bronze medalist European Championship (+78)
• 2000 place 5 Olympic Games
• 2001 European Champion (Open)
• 2001 bronze medalist world championship
• 2002 European Champion (+78)
• 2003 bronze medalist European Championship (+78)
• 2007 bronze medalist World Championship (+78)

Sumo

• 1999 World Champion Singles (Open Category)
• 2001 World Champion Individual (Open Category), World Champion Team
• 2004 World Champion (Open Category), Team World Champion
• 2005 World Champion Singles (Heavyweight)
• 2005 World Games gold medal

Web links

• Sandra Köppen-Zuckschwerdt in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Like a ballerina (taz, March 6, 2004)
• The only possibility (Y.- Magazin der Bundeswehr, Olympia 2008)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ JUDO magazine 12/2013