Maxi Herber

Herber and Baier at the1934 World Championships
Personal information
Born	(1920-10-08)8 October 1920 Munich,Bavaria,Germany
Died	20 October 2006(2006-10-20) (aged 86) Garmisch-Partenkirchen,Bavaria,Germany
Figure skating career
Country	Germany
Retired	1941
Medal record Representing Germany PairsFigure skating Olympic Games 1936 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Pairs World Championships 1939 Budapest Pairs 1938 Berlin Pairs 1937 Vienna Pairs 1936 Paris Pairs 1934 Helsinki Pairs European Championships 1939 London Pairs 1938 St. Moritz Pairs 1937 Prague Pairs 1936 Berlin Pairs 1935 St. Moritz Pairs

Maxi Herber (8 October 1920 – 20 October 2006) was a Germanfigure skater who competed inpair skating andsingle skating. She remains the youngest figure skating Olympic champion (at the age of 15 years and 128 days) from when shewon gold in pair skating together withErnst Baier at the1936 Winter Olympics.^[1]

Born inMunich, Herber was also an accomplished single skater, winning the German nationals three times, from 1933 to 1935. She skated for the Münchner EV (Munich EV) club.^[2]

Skating with Baier, she won seven national titles, five European titles, and four World titles, in addition to their Olympic gold. Herber later sold her Olympic gold medal and donated the money to survivors of theHolocaust.^[3] The pair performed several side-by-side jumps, including side-by-sideAxel jumps at the1934 Championships, likely the first side-by-side Axels competed by a pair at anISU championship.^{[4]: 120–121} They also developed a 'Baier lift', which was similar to atwist lift but lacking a release of Herber into the air.^[4]: 135

Herber and Baier married after their skating career ended in 1940. They had three children. AfterWorld War II they skated in ice shows; they created their own, which was later sold toHoliday on Ice.^[1] In 1964 they were divorced. She worked as a coach, then supported by public welfare and the "Deutsche Sporthilfe" (German Sport help organisation), she moved toOberau nearGarmisch-Partenkirchen inBavaria.^[3] Some years later Herber and Baier remarried, but they divorced again.

Herber suffered fromParkinson's disease. In 2000, she moved to the Lenzheim retirement home inGarmisch-Partenkirchen, where she held an exhibition of herwatercolor paintings. She died in 2006 at age 86.^[1]

(ladies singles)

(pairs withErnst Baier)

• 1920 births
• 2006 deaths
• German female pair skaters
• German female single skaters
• Figure skaters at the 1936 Winter Olympics
• Olympic figure skaters for Germany
• Olympic gold medalists for Germany
• Deaths from Parkinson's disease in Germany
• Olympic medalists in figure skating
• World Figure Skating Championships medalists
• European Figure Skating Championships medalists
• Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics
• Figure skaters from Munich
• 20th-century German sportswomen

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata