Ramona Brussig

Ramona Brussig (20 May 1977 ) is a German judoka and two-time gold medal winner in Paralympic competition.

She was born in Leipzig with visual impairments meaning that she competes in B2 classification events.

Brussig has an identical twin sister, Carmen Brussig, also a gold medal-winning visually-impaired judoka, who was born 15 minutes before her.

Brussig began training in 1986 at the age of nine and made her senior international debut in 1998 at the World Games in Madrid.

Though her sister lives in Switzerland, the pair like to meet up and train together when they can.

They say that they do not have a sense of rivalry as they compete in different weight classes.

Brussig won gold in the under 57 kg weight class at the 2004 Games in Athens, her first Paralympic Games, against Spanish judoka Marta Arce Payno.

She then won silver four years later in Beijing, losing to Wang Lijing in the final.

Brussig and Wang both dropped down a weight class to under 52 kg for the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London, meeting each other again in the final.

This time Brussig was triumphant, going home with the gold.

Brussig defended her title at the Rio 2016 and finished as runner-up to French judoka Sandrine Martinet, earning her a silver medal.

Through her career Brussig has won four world titles and six European titles.

She says that one of her most treasured memories was winning gold in London just 15 minutes after her twin sister achieved the same feat.

Both sisters are listed amongst the most promising German medal candidates for the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo, resulting in them being given financial support in their endeavours.

Brussig works for the sports association of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, a state in northern Germany.