Heidi Schmid

Heidi Schmid, who took the name Grundmann-Schmid after her marriage, is a retired German foil fencer born on 5 December 1938. She took up fencing at thirteen, finished third in the German youth championships a year later and went on to win the national foil title in 1957, 1959 and every year from 1964 to 1968. She competed at the 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympic Games in the individual and team foil events. At Rome in 1960 she won the individual gold medal, beating Maria Vicol of Romania by four hits to three in the final, and in 1964 she was part of the German foil team that took bronze. In 1961 she became world champion and student world champion in foil and was chosen German sportswoman of the year, and she had earlier won individual silver at the 1957 world championships along with two team silver medals. The Silver Laurel Leaf, Germany's highest sports award, honoured her 1960 victory. After retiring from competition she worked as a music teacher.