Katja Abel

Katja Abel
Born	(1983-04-08) April 8, 1983 East Berlin, Germany
Occupation	Artistic gymnast
Years active	–2008
Known for	Representing Germany at the 2008 Summer Olympics; bronze medal on vault at the 2006 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships

Katja Abel (born 8 April 1983) is a German artistic gymnast who represented her country at the 2008 Summer Olympics, contributing to the team's 12th-place finish. Her highest individual placement at these Games was 32nd on the uneven bars. Abel's most notable accomplishment is securing a bronze medal on vault at the 2006 European Women's Artistic Gymnastics Championships.

Biography

Abel's introduction to gymnastics came through her mother, Irene Abel, an Olympic medalist from 1972. Throughout her career, she encountered multiple injuries that hindered her from competing in both the 2000 and 2004 Olympic Games. In 2000, she struggled with back issues, and in 2004, a fall from the uneven bars resulted in fractures to both forearms. This injury restricted her 2005 competitive appearances to only the balance beam. Although she earned a European bronze on vault in 2006, ligament damage in both feet forced her to miss that year’s world championships. Subsequent surgeries in 2008 and 2009 meant she was unable to participate in vault events during the 2008 Olympics. In early 2007, Abel moved from Berlin to Stuttgart to train alongside Marie-Sophie Hindermann and Kim Bui under the guidance of coaches Tamara Khokhlova and Elena Dolgopolova.

Following the conclusion of the 2008 Olympic Games, Abel retired from competition and relocated back to Berlin. She then pursued academic studies in sports and biology at the Technical University of Ilmenau.

External links

• Katja Abel. gymbox.net