Dagmar Kersten

Who is Dagmar Kersten?

Dagmar Kersten is a retired East German gymnast. She competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics and won a bronze medal in the team competition. Individually she won a silver medal on uneven bars and finished sixth in the vault and tenth in the floor, but failed on the balance beam and thus ended up eighth all-around. In 1985 she won five medals at the world and European championships. She was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit.

Without her knowledge, Kersten was part of the East German doping program. In 1985 she suffered a serious spine injury and had to stop training. As part of her recovery treatment she was prescribed Oral Turinabol, an anabolic steroid. Her physician, Dr. Bernd Pansold, was later convicted in 1998 for the procurement of drugs to minors. Before the 1988 Olympics she was administered other performance-enhancing drugs under disguise of nutrition supplements.

After German reunification, Kersten moved to Stuttgart and worked at the Swabian Gymnastics Federation. Until 2002 she coached the German junior team. Later she worked as a speaker of the Lower Saxony Gymnastics Federation and a coach for an acrobatic show, which included her daughter Alina. She also holds second dan in taekwondo and teaches martial arts. Her son Erik is a taekwondo practitioner.