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Katja Schumacher, professional triathlete
Winner of 3 Ironman (Europe 98, Florida 01, Germany 02)
7 Top 5 Ironman Finishes
Winner of Half Ironman California, Wildflower and many other races..


I have been racing triathlons since 1989. A long time and I still love it.
I won the first triathlon I did, a short distance race in my home town Heidelberg Germany in the summer of 1989. I was 21 years old and from that day on was creasy about the sport.

As a child I was dreaming about being a world class athlete. I would play in the neighbor’s pool and dream about winning medals, being one of the great athletes that I looked up to. My uncle is Toni Sailer, who won 3 gold medals in the Olympic Games of 1966 in Cortina da Ampezzo, he is a skier and won all 3 events, the downhill, slalom and giant slalom. He was my idol.

My parents gave me the chance to do a lot of different sports as a child. I did gymnastics as a little child, I had no talent for that; some skiing, that I still love; played basketball and Rugby, sports that I am really to small for. But I did make the national team and once MBP, we also won 6 national championships in Rugby, I tried rowing and horseback riding and finally found triathlons.

I worked hard to get to where I am now, I am not the most talented in this sport, but I love to train and to work hard. My parents also did not support me being a pro athlete at the beginning, they thought I should get “a real job”.
I did all kinds of jobs to support myself financially, everything from waittressing, massages to cleaning in a hospital.

After my first Ironman win in 1998 at Ironman Germany in Roth, I pursued my dream in getting to be in the Olympic Games. After 2 years of racing to gain experience in short distance and collecting points, I had made it to be one of the 5 girls trying for the 3 slots for Germany at the Sydney Olympics. 2 days before one of the 2 qualifying races, the world cup in Sydney I got hit by a car, ripped my biceps and had to wear a brace for 7 weeks. I also missed the 2 nd qualifying race, the world championships in Perth. My dream of being in the Olympics was shattered.

I went back to Ironman, won the Ironman Florida in 2001 and Ironman Germany, Frankfurt 2002. I was happy with my racing had found good sponsors and still loved to compete.
Then came the 2005 Ironman in Frankfurt, I finished 2 nd behind Nina Kraft.
5 weeks after the race a reporter send me am email claiming he had heard , that one of my drug test had been tested positive at Ironman Germany. I was shocked, I did not believe him, I had never taken any banned drugs to improve my performance, that is very much against my believes of what sport is about.

Now the worst time of my life started, to this day I am struggling to prove my innocence. I thing a lot of people believe me today, but I am still not yet able to go back to what I love to do, and that is racing. I have lost all my money and some of my sponsors, and am struggling to even make it to the next race.

I still love the sport, and I believe at the end everything will be OK.
You have to believe that at the end the right thing will win.


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