Yvonne Hopf

Yvonne Hopf is a visually impaired former top swimmer in freestyle, backstroke and also in medley . She swam distances over 50 meters and 100 meters in the disabled swimming section as well as in the relay. Because of her excellent performance, she was appointed to the German paralympic national team.

At the 1992 Summer Paralympics in Barcelona, she won a gold medal in the 200 meters individual medley,[3] as well as two silver and two bronze medals.

At the 1994 IPC Swimming World Championships in Malta, she won the 50 meters freestyle and finished second three times.[2]

At the 1996 Summer Paralympic Games, she won the 50 meters freestyle;[4] she set a world record of 27.38 seconds (in the S13 class), which was only broken by Anna Stetsenko in 2016. [5] She won the 100 meters backstroke.[6] Then she won the 100 meters freestyle.[7] After these victories in the individual competitions, she won the 4 x 100 meters freestyle relay in the team of Hopf, Daniela Röhle, Birgit Beeker and Daniela Henke .[8] Finally, she won the 4 × 100 meters medley relay.[9] A sixth gold medal in the 100 meters butterfly was stripped in a controversial decision, as she was disqualified after the race for a turning error. She won a silver medal in the 200 meters individual medley.[10]

In 1998, an eye exam revealed that Hopf's visual acuity exceeded the permitted 10 percent, prompting her to end her career as a blind athlete .[11]