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MAXI GNAUCK
Maxi Gnauck (born October 10, 1964 in Berlin, Germany) was an East German Artistic Gymnast. Her parents were
expecting a boy and they planned to name him Max so, when the baby turned out to be a girl, they simply added the letter "i."
When Maxi was 5, Her mother took her to a gymnastics center in their area. By age 8, Maxi had won her first medals at the Kreisspartakiade.
When she was 9 she transferred to the Club SC Dynamo Berlin, where she was coached by Jurgen Heritz. Considered one of the best Uneven
Bars workers of her time, Maxi was also a super tumbler. She was one of the first girls to perform a triple twist on Floor.
In April 1986, Maxi officially announced her retirement and began studying to become a coach. During 1988, Maxi was severely injured
while sliding down a waterslide while she was working as an aid at a children's summer camp by the Baltic Sea. Maxi broke her C5 vertebra
and was nearly paralyzed. Three vertebrae were later reinforced with a metal plate.
Since 1993, Maxi has worked as a full-time coach at the Norderstedt Gymnastics Center in Hamburg. In 2000, she was inducted into the
International Gymnastics Hall of Fame. She is the first
German gymnast to be awarded that honor.
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