Athletes from East Germany (German Democratic Republic) competed at the Olympic Games for the last time as an independent nation at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. Following German reunification in 1990, a single German team would compete in the 1992 Summer Olympics. 259 competitors, 157 men and 102 women, took part in 157 events in 16 sports.
East Germany finished in second position in the final medal rankings, with 37 gold medals and 102 medals overall.
Ulf Timmermann — Athletics, men's shot put
Jürgen Schult — Athletics, men's discus throw
Christian Schenk — Athletics, men's decathlon
Sigrun Wodars — Athletics, women's 800 metres
Martina Hellmann — Athletics, women's discus throw
Petra Felke — Athletics, women's javelin throw
Andreas Zülow — Boxing, men's lightweight
Henry Maske — Boxing, men's middleweight
Olaf Heukrodt — Canoeing, men's C1 500 m Canadian singles
Birgit Fischer and Anke Nothnagel — Canoeing, women's K2 500 m kayak pairs
Heike Singer, Birgit Fischer, Anke Nothnagel and Ramona Portwich — Canoeing, women's K4 500 m kayak fours
Lutz Heßlich — Cycling, men's 1000 m sprint (scratch)
Olaf Ludwig — Cycling, men's individual road race
Jan Schur, Uwe Ampler, Mario Kummer and Maik Landsmann — Cycling, men's team time trial
Holger Behrendt — Gymnastics, men's rings
Thomas Lange — Rowing, men's single sculls
Roland Schröder, Ralf Brudel, Olaf Förster and Thomas Greiner — Rowing, men's coxless fours
Hendrik Reiher, Karsten Schmeling, Bernd Eichwurzel, Frank Klawonn and Bernd Niesecke — Rowing, men's coxed fours
Jutta Behrendt — Rowing, women's single sculls
Birgit Peter and Martina Schröter — Rowing, women's double sculls
Jana Sorgers, Kerstin Förster, Kristina Mundt and Beate Schramm — Rowing, women's quadruple sculls
Birte Siech, Martina Walther, Gerlinde Doberschütz, Carola Hornig and Sylvia Rose — Rowing, women's coxed fours
Ute Wagner-Stange, Ute Wild, Judith Zeidler, Daniela Neunast, Beatrix Schröer, Annegret Strauch, Ramona Balthasar, Kathrin Haacker and Anja Kluge — Rowing, women's eights
Axel Wegner — Shooting, men's skeet shooting
Uwe Dassler — Swimming, men's 400 m freestyle
Kristin Otto — Swimming, women's 50 m freestyle
Kristin Otto — Swimming, women's 100 m freestyle
Heike Friedrich — Swimming, women's 200 m freestyle
Kristin Otto — Swimming, women's 100 m backstroke
Silke Hörner — Swimming, women's 200 m breaststroke
Kristin Otto — Swimming, women's 100 m butterfly
Kathleen Nord — Swimming, women's 200 m butterfly
Daniela Hunger — Swimming, women's 200 m individual medley
Manuela Stellmach, Daniela Hunger, Katrin Meissner and Kristin Otto — Swimming, women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay
Birte Weigang, Silke Hörner, Katrin Meissner and Kristin Otto — Swimming, women's 4 × 100 m medley relay
Joachim Kunz — Weightlifting, men's lightweight (67½ kg)
Thomas Flach, Bernd Jäkel and Jochen Schümann — Sailing, men's Soling
Ronald Weigel — Athletics, men's 20 km walk
Ronald Weigel — Athletics, men's 50 km walk
Torsten Voss — Athletics, men's decathlon
Petra Müller — Athletics, women's 400 metres
Christine Wachtel — Athletics, women's 800 metres
Gloria Siebert — Athletics, women's 100 m hurdles
Silke Möller, Kerstin Behrendt, Marlies Göhr and Ingrid Lange— Athletics, women's 4 × 100 m relay
Heike Drechsler — Athletics, women's long jump
Kathrin Neimke — Athletics, women's shot put
Diana Gansky — Athletics, women's discus throw
Sabine John — Athletics, women's heptathlon
Andreas Tews — Boxing, men's flyweight
Andreas Stähle — Canoeing, men's K1 500 m kayak singles
Jörg Schmidt — Canoeing, men's C1 1000 m Canadian singles
Olaf Heukrodt and Ingo Spelly — Canoeing, men's C2 1000 m Canadian pairs
Birgit Fischer — Canoeing, women's K1 500 m kayak singles
Carsten Wolf, Steffen Blochwitz, Roland Hennig and Dirk Meier — Cycling, men's 4000 m team pursuit
Christa Luding-Rothenburger — Cycling, women's sprint
Udo Wagner — Fencing, men's foil individual
Sylvio Kroll — Gymnastics, men's long horse vault
Ralf Büchner, Holger Behrendt, Ulf Hoffmann, Sylvio Kroll, Sven Tippelt and Andreas Wecker — Gymnastics, men's team combined exercises
Dagmar Kersten — Gymnastics, women's asymmetrical bars
Sven Loll — Judo, men's lightweight (71 kg)
Henry Stöhr — Judo, men's heavyweight (+95 kg)
Mario Streit, Detlef Kirchhoff and René Rensch — Rowing, men's coxed pairs
Ralf Schumann — Shooting, men's rapid-fire pistol
Frank Baltrusch — Swimming, men's 200 m backstroke
Patrick Kühl — Swimming, men's 200 m individual medley
Steffen Zesner, Uwe Dassler, Thomas Flemming and Sven Lodziewski — Swimming, men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay
Heike Friedrich — Swimming, women's 400 m freestyle
Astrid Strauss — Swimming, women's 800 m freestyle
Katrin Zimmermann — Swimming, women's 200 m backstroke
Birte Weigang — Swimming, women's 100 m butterfly
Birte Weigang — Swimming, women's 200 m butterfly
Ingo Steinhöfel — Weightlifting, men's middleweight (75 kg)
Jens-Peter Herold — Athletics, men's 1.500 metres
Hansjörg Kunze — Athletics, men's 5.000 metres
Hartwig Gauder — Athletics, men's 50 km walk
Heike Drechsler — Athletics, women's 100 metres
Heike Drechsler — Athletics, women's 200 metres
Kathrin Dörre — Athletics, women's marathon
Ellen Fiedler — Athletics, women's 400 m hurdles
Dagmar Neubauer-Rübsam, Sabine Busch, Kirsten Emmelmann and Petra Müller — Athletics, women's 4 × 400 m relay
Beate Koch — Athletics, women's javelin throw
Anke Behmer — Athletics, women's heptathlon
André Wohllebe — Canoeing, men's K1 1000 m kayak singles
André Wohllebe, Hans-Jörg Bliesener, Kay Bluhm and Andreas Stähle — Canoeing, men's K4 1000 m kayak fours
Bernd Dittert — Cycling, men's 4000 m individual pursuit
Holger Behrendt — Gymnastics, men's horizontal bar
Sven Tippelt — Gymnastics, men's parallel bars
Sven Tippelt — Gymnastics, men's rings
Ulrike Klotz, Bettina Schieferdecker, Dörte Thümmler-Pawlak, Gabriele Fähnrich, Martina Jentsch and Dagmar Kersten — Gymnastics, women's team combined exercises
Torsten Bréchôt — Judo, men's half middleweight (78 kg)
Steffen Zühlke, Steffen Bogs, Heiko Habermann and Jens Köppen — Rowing, men's quadruple sculls
Uwe Dassler — Swimming, men's 1500 m freestyle
Steffen Zesner, Thomas Flemming, Lars Hinneburg and Dirk Richter — Swimming, men's 4 × 100 m freestyle
Katrin Meissner — Swimming, women's 50 m freestyle
Manuela Stellmach — Swimming, women's 200 m freestyle
Anke Möhring — Swimming, women's 400 m freestyle
Cornelia Sirch — Swimming, women's 100 m backstroke
Cornelia Sirch — Swimming, women's 200 m backstroke
Silke Hörner — Swimming, women's 100 m breaststroke
Daniela Hunger — Swimming, women's 400 m individual medley
Ronny Weller — Weightlifting, men's heavyweight (110 kg)
Andreas Schröder — Wrestling, men's freestyle super heavyweight
Men's 5,000 metres
Hansjörg Kunze
- Heat — 13:44.34
- Semifinal — 13:23.04
- Final — 13:15.73 (→ Bronze medal)
Men's 10,000 metres
Hansjörg Kunze
- Heat — 28:22.09
- Final — 27:39.35 (→ 6th place)
Men's marathon
Jörg Peter
Final — did not start (→ no ranking)
Men's 4 × 400 m relay
Jens Carlowitz, Michael Schimmer, Mathias Schersing and Thomas Schönlebe
Heat — 3:08.13
Jens Carlowitz, Frank Möller, Mathias Schersing and Thomas Schönlebe
Semifinal — 3:00.60
Jens Carlowitz, Mathias Schersing, Frank Möller and Thomas Schönlebe
Final — 3:01.13 (→ 4th place)
Men's 3.000 m steeplechase
Hagen Melzer
- Heat — 8:36.45
- Semifinal — 8:16.27
- Final — 8:19.82 (→ 10th place)
Men's javelin throw
Gerald Weiss
Qualification — 79.16m
Final — 81.30 m (→ 6th place)
Silvio Warsönke
Qualification — 78.22m (→ did not advance)
Detlef Michel
Qualification — 77.70 m (→ did not advance)
Men's discus throw
Jürgen Schult
Qualifying heat – 64.70 m
Final – 68.82m (→ Gold medal)
Men's shot put
Ulf Timmermann
Qualifying heat – 21.27m
Final – 22.47m (→ Gold medal)
Udo Beyer
Qualifying heat – 20.97m
Final – 21.40 m (→ 4th place)
Men's hammer throw
Ralf Haber
Qualifying heat — 78.16m
Final — 80.44m (→ 4th place)
Günther Rodehau
Qualifying heat — 78.12m
Final — 72.36m (→ 12th place)
Men's decathlon
Christian Schenk — 8488 points (→ Gold medal))
- 100 metres — 11.25s
- Long jump — 7.43m
- Shot put — 15.48m
- High jump — 2.27m
- 400 metres — 48.90 s
- 110 m hurdles — 15.13s
- Discus throw — 49.28m
- Pole vault — 4.70 m
- Javelin throw — 61.32m
- 1.500 metres — 4:28.95s
Torsten Voss — 8399 points (→ Silver medal))
- 100 metres — 10.87s
- Long jump — 7.45m
- Shot put — 14.97m
- High jump — 1.97m
- 400 metres — 47.71s
- 110 m hurdles — 14.46s
- Discus throw — 44.36m
- Pole vault — 5.10 m
- Javelin throw — 61.76m
- 1.500 metres — 4:33.02s
Uwe Freimuth — 7860 points (→ 18th place)
- 100 metres — 11.57s
- Long jump — 7.00 m
- Shot put — 15.60 m
- High jump — 1.94m
- 400 metres — 49.84s
- 110 m hurdles — 15.04s
- Discus throw — 46.66m
- Pole vault — 4.90 m
- Javelin throw — 60.20 m
- 1.500 metres — 4:46.04s
Men's 20 km walk
Ronald Weigel
Final — 1:20:00 (→ Silver medal)
Axel Noack
Final — 1:21:14 (→ 8th place)
Men's 50 km walk
Ronald Weigel
Final — 3'38:56 (→ Silver medal)
Hartwig Gauder
Final — 3'39:45 (→ Bronze medal)
Dietmar Meisch
Final — 3'46:31 (→ 9th place)
Women's 4 × 100 m relay
Silke Möller, Kerstin Behrendt, Ingrid Lange and Marlies Göhr
Heat — 42.92
Semifinal — 42.23
Final — 42.09 (→ Silver medal)
Women's 4 × 400 m relay
Grit Breuer, Dagmar Neubauer-Rübsam, Kirsten Emmelmann and Petra Müller
Heat — 3:27.37
Dagmar Neubauer-Rübsam, Kirsten Emmelmann, Sabine Busch and Petra Müller
Final — 3:18.29 (→ Bronze medal)
Women's marathon
Katrin Dörre – 2"26:21 (→ Bronze medal)
Birgit Stephan – did not finish (→ no ranking)
Women's discus throw
Martina Hellmann
Qualification – 67.12m
Final – 72.30 m (→ Gold medal)
Diana Gansky
Qualification – 65.40 m
Final – 71.88m (→ Silver medal)
Gabriele Reinsch
Qualification – 66.88m
Final – 67.26m (→ 7th place)
Women's javelin throw
Petra Felke
Qualification – 67.06m
Final – 74.68m (→ Gold medal)
Beate Koch
Qualification – 66.86m
Final – 67.30 m (→ Bronze medal)
Silke Renk
Qualification – 63.64m
Final – 66.38m (→ 5th place)
Women's shot put
Kathrin Neimke
Qualification – 20.18m
Final – 21.07m (→ Silver medal)
Ines Müller
Qualification – 19.79m
Final – 20.37m (→ 4th place)
Heike Hartwig
Qualification – 20.06m
Final – 20.20 m (→ 6th place)
Women's heptathlon
Sabine John
Final result — 6897 points (→ Silver medal)
Anke Behmer
Final result — 6858 points (→ Bronze medal)
Ines Schulz
Final result — 6411 points (→ 6th place)
Men's bantamweight (54 kg)
René Breitbarth
- First round — defeated Magare Tshekiso (BTS), 5–0
- Second round — defeated Vedat Tutuk (TUR), 5–0
- Third round — lost to Jorge Julio Rocha (COL), 1–4
Seventeen cyclists, fourteen men and three women, represented East Germany in 1988.
Men's road race
Olaf Ludwig — 4:32:22 (→ Gold medal)
Uwe Raab
Uwe Ampler
Men's team time trial
Uwe Ampler
Mario Kummer
Maik Landsmann
Jan Schur
Men's sprint
Lutz Heßlich
Men's 1 km time trial
Maic Malchow
Men's individual pursuit
Bernd Dittert
Men's team pursuit
Steffen Blochwitz
Roland Hennig
Carsten Wolf
Dirk Meier
Uwe Preißler
Men's points race
Olaf Ludwig
Women's road race
Angela Ranft — 2:00:52 (→ 25th place)
Petra Rossner — DNF (→ no ranking)
Women's sprint
Christa Rothenburger-Luding
Seven fencers, all men, represented East Germany in 1988. Udo Wagner won a silver medal in the individual foil event.
Men's foil
Udo Wagner
Jens Howe
Aris Enkelmann
Men's team foil
Aris Enkelmann, Adrian Germanus, Jens Gusek, Jens Howe, Udo Wagner
Men's épée
Torsten Kühnemund
Uwe Proske
Men's 100 m freestyle
Steffen Zesner
- Heat – 50.73
- Final – scratched (→ did not advance, no ranking)
Sven Lodziewski
- Heat – 50.77
- B-Final – 51.00 (→ 12th place)
Men's 200 m freestyle
Steffen Zesner
- Heat – 1:49.13
- Final – 1:48.77 (→ 6th place)
Thomas Flemming
- Heat – 1:49.52
- B-Final – 1:50.18 (→ 10th place)
Men's 400 m freestyle
Uwe Dassler
- Heat – 3:49.90
- Final – 3:46.95 (→ Gold medal)
Jörg Hoffmann
- Heat – 3:53.78
- B-Final – 3:52.13 (→ 9th place)
Men's 1500 m freestyle
Uwe Dassler
- Heat – 15:08.91
- Final – 15:06.15 (→ Bronze medal)
Jörg Hoffmann
- Heat – 15:14.13 (→ did not advance, 6th place)
Men's 100 m backstroke
Frank Baltrusch
- Heat – 56.45
- Final – 56.10 (→ 6th place)
Dirk Richter
- Heat – 56.52
- B-Final – 56.66 (→ 9th place)
Men's 200 m backstroke
Frank Baltrusch
- Heat – 2:01.49
- Final – 1:59.60 (→ Silver medal)
Dirk Richter
- Heat – 2:01.54
- Final – 2:01.67 (→ 5th place)
Men's 100 m breaststroke
Christian Poswiat
- Heat – 1:02.99
- Final – 1:03.43 (→ 8th place)
Raik Hannemann
- Heat – 1:04.46 (→ did not advance, 20th place)
Men's 200 m breaststroke
Christian Poswiat
- Heat – 2:20.99 (→ did not advance, 27th place)
Men's 200 m individual medley
Patrick Kühl
- Heat – 2:03.77
- Final – 2:01.61 (→ Silver medal)
Raik Hannemann
- Heat – 2:04.03
- Final – 2:04.82 (→ 7th place)
Men's 400 m individual medley
Patrick Kühl
- Heat – 4:18.60
- Final – 4:18.44 (→ 5th place)
Raik Hannemann
- Heat – 2:04.03
- Final – 2:04.82 (→ 7th place)
Men's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay
Dirk Richter, Thomas Flemming, Lars Hinneburg and Steffen Zesner
- Heat – 3:20.47
- Final – 3:19.82 (→ Bronze medal)
Men's 4 × 200 m freestyle relay
Uwe Dassler, Lars Hinneburg, Sven Lodziewski and Thomas Flemming
- Heat – 7:16.61
Uwe Dassler, Sven Lodziewski, Thomas Flemming and Steffen Zesner
- Final – 7:13.68 (→ Silver medal)
Women's 50 m freestyle
Kristin Otto
- Heat – 25.85
- B-Final – 25.49 (→ Gold medal)
Katrin Meissner
- Heat – 25.77
- Final – 25.71 (→ Bronze medal)
Women's 100 m freestyle
Kristin Otto
- Heat – 55.80
- B-Final – 54.93 (→ Gold medal)
Manuela Stellmach
- Heat – 56.14
- Final – 55.52 (→ 4th place)
Women's 200 m freestyle
Heike Friedrich
- Heat – 1:59.02
- B-Final – 1:57.65 (→ Gold medal)
Manuela Stellmach
- Heat – 2:00.30
- Final – 1:59.01 (→ Bronze medal)
Women's 400 m freestyle
Heike Friedrich
- Heat – 4:11.30
- B-Final – 4:05.94 (→ Silver medal)
Anke Möhring
- Heat – 4:10.64
- Final – 4:06.62 (→ Bronze medal)
Women's 800 m freestyle
Astrid Strauss
- Heat – 8:28.07
- B-Final – 8:22.09 (→ Silver medal)
Anke Möhring
- Heat – 8:30.95
- Final – 8:23.09 (→ 4th place)
Women's 100 m backstroke
Kristin Otto
- Heat – 1:01.45
- Final – 1:00.89 (→ Gold medal)
Cornelia Sirch
- Heat – 1:01.63
- Final – 1:01.57 (→ Bronze medal)
Women's 200 m backstroke
Kathrin Zimmermann
- Heat – 2:12.81
- Final – 2:10.61 (→ Silver medal)
Cornelia Sirch
- Heat – 2:10.46
- Final – 2:11.45 (→ Bronze medal)
Women's 100 m breaststroke
Silke Hörner
- Heat – 1:08.35
- Final – 1:08.83 (→ Bronze medal)
Annett Rex
- Heat – 1:10.61
- Final – 1:10.67 (→ 8th place)
Women's 200 m breaststroke
Silke Hörner
- Heat – 2:27.63
- Final – 2:26.71 (→ Gold medal)
Susanne Boernike
- Heat – 2:30.71
- B-Final – 2:28.55 (→ 9th place)
Women's 100 m butterfly
Kristin Otto
- Heat – 1:00.40
- Final – 59.00 (→ Gold medal)
Birte Weigang
- Heat – 59.97
- Final – 59.45 (→ Silver medal)
Women's 200 m butterfly
Kathleen Nord
- Heat – 2:11.81
- Final – 2:09.51 (→ Gold medal)
Birte Weigang
- Heat – 2:11.97
- Final – 2:09.91 (→ Silver medal)
Women's 200 m individual medley
Daniela Hunger
- Heat – 2:16.23
- Final – 2:12.59 (→ Gold medal)
Women's 400 m individual medley
Daniela Hunger
- Heat – 4:44.85
- Final – 4:39.76 (→ Bronze medal)
Kathleen Nord
- Heat – 4:42.92
- Final – 4:41.64 (→ 5th place)
Women's 4 × 100 m freestyle relay
Katrin Meissner, Sabina Schulze, Heike Friedrich and Daniela Hunger
- Heat – 3:43.13
Kristin Otto, Katrin Meissner, Daniela Hunger and Manuela Stellmach
- Final – 3:40.63 (→ Gold medal)
Women's 4 × 100 m medley relay
Cornelia Sirch, Silke Hörner, Birte Weigang and Manuela Stellmach
- Heat – 4:08.53
Kristin Otto, Silke Hörner, Birte Weigang and Katrin Meissner
- Final – 4:03.74 (→ Gold medal)
Preliminary round (Group A)
Lost to South Korea (1–3)
Defeated Japan (3–2)
Lost to Soviet Union (0–3)
Classification matches
5th/8th place: defeated United States (3–1)
5th/6th place: defeated Brazil (3–0) → Fifth place
Team roster
Steffi Schmidt
Susanne Lahme
Monika Beu
Ariane Radfan
Kathrin Langschwager
Maike Arlt
Brit Wiedemann
Ute Steppin
Grit Jensen
Dörte Stüdemann
Heike Jensen
Ute Langenau
Head coach: Siegfried Köhler