Ursel Brunner

Ursula Brunner, known as Ursel Brunner, was a West German freestyle swimmer, born on 30 January 1941 and died on 18 September 2024. She competed at the 1960 and 1964 Summer Olympics and won two bronze medals in relay events at the 1960 Games. At national level she won at least fifteen German titles, among them the 100 metres butterfly in 1961 and 1962, the 400 metres individual medley in 1962 and 1963, the 100 metres freestyle from 1959 to 1963 and the 400 metres freestyle in 1957 and from 1959 to 1963. In 1963 she was selected German Sportspersonality of the Year. In 1975 she married her former coach Hans Wirth, who died in 1988, and she had a son. She also co-wrote books on swimming training, including a 1970 work on dry-land conditioning for swimmers written with Marion Knebel and Hanns Wirth.