Three-part ARD documentary series “Being Franziska van Almsick” / From now on in the ARD Mediathek / on September 9th and September 21st in the first
She is a world champion, world record holder and world athlete. She was a teen idol and advertising. She was “Franzi”, darling of the Germans, in east and west. And she was Franzi, the fallible – glorified from the boulevard and dropped. In the three-part ARD documentary series “Being Franziska van Almsick” Jürgen Schmidt and Laura Trust tell the moving history of the first superstar of reunited Germany. All three episodes are from Thursday, September 4, 2025, in the ARD Mediathek available. The first shows the first episode on September 9 at 10:50 p.m. and the second episode on September 21 at 2:50 p.m.
The documentary is a compilation of my path, with all its ups and downs and it made it clear to me once again how special this time was. A lot of time has passed, and in retrospect it was an impressive journey through the past for myself. The documentary showed me which dimension my story really had and how young I was actually happening. (…) The most important question always remains: Who am I? Success must never become the only identity.
The authors look back on all of this in detailed interviews with companions, contemporary witnesses – and with Franziska van Almsick himself. The parents, Bernd and Jutta van Almsick, the former swimmers Dagmar Hase, Raik Hannemann, Cathleen Rund, Michael Groß and Federica Pellegrini, the swimming coach Norbert Warnatzsch and the former manager Regine Eichhorn.
Episode 1: superstar
Barcelona in 1992-from the moment there was nothing more like it was: from 14-year-old Franziska van Almsick becomes “Franzi Superstar”. Episode 1 looks back on your beginnings: GDR, Treptow, Spartakiade, Wall, Start for the FRG, Wunderkind, Bambi, “Wetten dass …?”, First advertising contracts, first cover pictures. Franzi makes millions. With every new medal, with every new success it seems as if the pressure is greater. The nation wants more from Franzi, can’t get enough. And simply ignores that the wonderful is human, has mistakes.
Episode 2: Fallable
At the 1994 World Cup she flies out in the lead, Dagmar Hase takes her final place. Van Almsick swims world record in the final, becomes world champion. The advertising areas are getting bigger, their staging sometimes questionable. There is only one goal in terms of sport: gold at the Olympic Games of Atlanta 1996. She misses it again, fetches silver. The Germans are too little, the disappointment is great. Franzi takes a break – and comes back, she finally wants to get gold at the games of Sydney 2000. She fails in the lead. The BZ titles: “Franzi van Speck – as a newt you don’t get gold”. Franzi is at the low point.
Episode 3: Insmert
After her failure in Sydney, the boulevard falls over her. As will be known later, the exceptional athlete had to deal with eating disorder for many years. Against the background, the headline “Franzi van Speck” hurts twice. In the documentary, Franzi talks about her hardest time and about the man who helped her get out of it: Stefan Kretzschmar, handball star, Bad Boy, a real type. Love gives her support – Franzi finds back to old strength. On August 3, 2002, Van Almsick competed in the European Championship in her hometown of Berlin. Again 200 meters freestyle. She becomes European champion on this day and undercut her world record of Rome. She wins five gold medals at these European Championships, an incomparable triumph. The games of Athens, the end of the career, follow the separation from Kretzschmar.
New season of the successful ARD documentary series with sports legends
“BEING Franziska van Almsick” follows the first two successful seasons of this ARD documentary series about the cyclist and Tour-de-France winner Jan Ulrich and the multiple formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher. “BEING Franziska van Almsick” is a production of the SWR for the ARD by Jürgen Schmidt (author), Laura Trust (author) and Christoph Pietsch (editor). 3 x 35 minutes, from September 4, 2025 in the ARD media library. The first shows the first episode on September 9 at 10:50 p.m., episode 2 on September 21 at 2:50 p.m.
Four-part Sportschau-Podcast in the ARD Audiothek
At the same time as a documentary series, the four-part Sportschau-Podcast “Our Franzi-Being Franziska van Almsick” from SWR and RBB starts in the ARD Audiothek. Host Lars Becker goes on a journey to her greatest triumphs and her deepest crises: from the beginning in Berlin via Barcelona, Rome, Atlanta, Sydney back to Berlin to race her life. From September 4, 2025 in the ARD audio library Available and wherever there are podcasts.
More information in the ARD press online dossier