Date of Birth: 
Place of Birth: Neustrelitz, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
About Andreas Dittmer
- Andreas Dittmer (born 16 April 1972 in Neustrelitz, Bezirk Neubrandenburg) is a German sprint canoeist.
- The dominant sprint canoeist of his generation in 1000 m races, he has won three Olympic and eight world championship gold medals. Dittmer won his first world championship medal - a bronze - at Paris in 1991 as a member of Germany's C-4 500 m crew.
- In 1994 he won the C-2 1000 m world championship with Gunar Kirchbach.
- At the 1996 Olympics the pair won the gold medal in the same event. Now established as Germany's top canoe sprinter he was selected for the C-1 event and won the C-1 1000 m world title at his first attempt in Dartmouth, Canada in 1997. At Sydney 2000 he won the C-1 1000 m gold as well as the bronze in the 500 m race.
- He then won three consecutive C-1 1000 m world titles (2001, 2002, 2003).
- In 2003 he also won his first world 500 m title, finally defeating four-time champion Maxim Opalev of Russia to claim his first "double".
- At the European championships too he won three straight gold medals in his specialist 1000 m event, but had to be content with four consecutive silver medals behind Opalev in the 500 m. Dittmer went to the 2004 Summer Olympics as the overwhelming favourite for the 1000 m gold medal, having been undefeated in major finals for over four years..
- However he was surprisingly beaten by Spain's David Cal, who finished just 0.52 second ahead of Dittmer's time of 3:46.721. In the C-1 500 m final Dittmer gained his revenge, edging out Cal by 0.34 seconds, to win the gold medal in a time of 1:46.383, with 500 m specialist Opalev pushed back into third place. Dittmer's sister, Anja Dittmer, also competed at both the 2000 and 2004 Olympics.
- She is a triathlete. In 2005 he reasserted his authority over 1000 m, winning his fourth European C-1 gold medal in Poznan.
- At the world championships, held in Zagreb, he again doubled up winning his fourth consecutive C-1 1000 m gold as well as a second C-1 500 m title. His run of success at the European championships finally came to an end in 2006 when he was defeated by Romania's Florin Mironcic in the 1000 m final in Racice, Czech Republic. At the 2006 World Championships in Szeged, Hungary, Dittmer suffered the misfortune of being disqualified in the C-1 500 m heats.
- He also lost his 1000 m crown as Mexico's Everardo Cristóbal won a shock victory ahead of the second-placed Dittmer. Dittmer earned a silver in the C-1 500 m event at the 2007 ICF Canoe Sprint World Championships in Duisburg.
- He went on to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, but did not medal in any of the C-1 events. As of 2009, Dittmer has a total of 22 world championship medals.
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