Doping Commission

"They thought they were swapping a bronze medallist for a world champion (Katrin Borchert of former East Germany). But at the 1990 world championships our positions were reversed.

"Apart from that, the decision to change countries came naturally. I had a supportive environment in Italy and people in Germany understood the move because it was a question of the heart."

Idem said she is more proud of her two children, Janek, 12, and Jonas, 4, than anything she has achieved in sport.

This sense of balance has also led her to be highly active away from the water.

She was head of the city of Ravenna's sports department from 2001 to 2007 and she is a member of Italian Health Ministry's Doping Commission, a subject on which she has strong opinions.

"I think doping is an evil that will always be present because sport is contaminated by economic interests, not just from the athletes who gain an advantage from it, but also from the pharmaceutical industry," she said.

"They invest in doping research because they stand to make a profit from selling the drugs. That's why doping will always be steps ahead of the research into stopping it.

"The athletes should be the first to act to stop the spread of doping. But it is also necessary to hit the nerve of doping, the pharmaceutical companies."

Although short of Austrian's sailor Hubert Raudaschl's record of nine Summer Olympics between 1964 and 1996, Idem's Games tally is a remarkable achievement for such a physically demanding sport.