Elvira Fischer

Fischer was born in Vienna, Austria, the daughter of Johann and Ruta Fischer. She began swimming at the very young age with ASV Wien, and later captured her first career medal, a bronze in the 200 m breaststroke (2:36.58) as a 14-year-old, at the 1992 European Junior Swimming Championships in Leeds, England.[3]

Fischer attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, Nebraska, where she played for the Nebraska Cornhuskers swimming and diving team, under head coach Paul Nelsen, from 1999 to 2001. While swimming for the Cornhuskers, she received three All-American honors, and posted career bests in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:01.83) and 200-yard breaststroke (2:12.46) at the 2001 NCAA Women's Swimming and Diving Championships.[4][5] On that same year, Fischer transferred to the University of California, Los Angeles, where she took up a pre-med course and swam for the UCLA Bruins, coached by Cyndi Gallagher.[6] During her senior season, she claimed the 200-yard breaststroke title (2:18.16) at the 2002 Pacific-10 Conference Championships.[7][8] Because of her further success in college swimming, she was also named the Most Valuable Swimmer of the Year by the University.[9]

Fischer made her first Austrian team at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta. There, she failed to reach the top 16 final in the 200 m breaststroke, sharing a twenty-fourth seed with China's Yuan Yuan in a matching time of 2:33.89.[10]

At the 1997 European Aquatics Championships in Seville, Spain, Fischer pulled off a fourteenth-place effort through a consolation final in the 200 m breaststroke at 2:34.03.[11] The following year, at the 1998 FINA World Championships in Perth, Australia, she placed twenty-fourth from the prelims in the 200 m breaststroke with a time of 2:35.65.[12]

Fischer competed in a breaststroke double at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She achieved a FINA A-standard of 2:30.17 (200 m breaststroke) from the European Championships in Helsinki, Finland.[13][14] On the second day of the Games, Fischer placed twenty-fourth in the 100 m breaststroke. Swimming in heat three, she held off a challenge from Colombia's Isabel Ceballos on the final stretch to a top finish in 1:11.58, almost half a second (0.50) closer to her entry standard.[15][16] Three days later, in the 200 m breaststroke, Fischer established an Austrian record of 2:30.05 from heat four in the prelims, but missed the semifinals by six-tenths of a second (0.60) with a nineteenth-place effort.[17][18]

At the 2001 FINA World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Fischer failed to medal in any of her individual events, finishing sixteenth in the 100 m breaststroke (1:11.18) and tenth in the 200 m breaststroke (2:28.71).[19][20][21]

In November 2002, Fischer ended her sporting career because of health problems, specifically in her back muscles and lumbar spine.[3][22]