SCHWANITZ Christina

General
TWIN CHILDREN
She gave birth to twins, a son and daughter, in 2017, and admitted that she wasn't sure if she would return to sport after. "I left it open whether I would return. I was wondering whether being a mother would be enough. But I am not the type of person who feels comfortable sitting at home. I love my kids more than anything, but I'd rather be a super mum who also does sport. It is more interesting. I also want to be able to be selfish and do something for myself, and that is my sport. I have a lot of support from my husband." (Tagesspiegel.de, 16 Oct 2019; morgenpost.de, 03 Oct 2019; ecs.sportschau.de, 08 Aug 2018)

RIO DISAPPOINTMENT
After winning gold at the European championships in 2016 she was a favourite to win a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro but ended up finishing sixth. She said she was going through personal difficulties at the time, but has never shared the reasons why. "I do not want to talk about them, because it was a personal drama and some things should remain private. You are a human being and not a machine. You are not able to switch off your heart, switch off your head and say, 'I am just a machine' and go on with whatever you are doing. Your personal life influences all things, including sport." (Sport im Osten YouTube channel, 30 Nov 2019)

BODY IMAGE
After the birth of her twins in 2017, she lost more than 24kg while training to get back into competitive athletics. While she believes shot put is gaining attention as a high-performance sport, she believes it still suffers from negative perceptions of body image. "I think it's nice that the audience is noticing more and more that shot put is also a high-performance sport. What I don't find so nice is the idea of what an ideal person should look like. We don't get very near to that. It would be nicer if people appreciated that we need bodies to do our sport. I have had some horrible experiences. I actually was negatively affected by such comments and started eating less, but then realised that it was not good for me. It is really sad that society still thinks in such an old-fashioned way, that everyone has to fit into a box and no one is allowed to be an individual." (sportschau.de, 10 Sep 2019; Puls Reportage YouTube channel 25 Sep 2019)