49-year-old Pechstein faces crowning of her career at Beijing 2022

BERLIN -- The Olympic Games has always had a special meaning in the life of speed skater Claudia Pechstein.

Since the German athlete won her first Olympic medal in 1992 ending up third, the five-time gold medal winner started to think in four-year chapters.

"I didn't start to think in days, weeks, or months anymore, I started to think in four-year terms," she admitted.

By qualifying for the 2022 Beijing Games, the 49-year-old not only becomes the first woman to compete at eight Olympic Games but is adding another successful chapter to her career.

Only the male Japanese ski-jumper Noriaki Kasai managed eight participations.

Germany's most-decorated winter Olympian is talking about the "absolute highlight of my career."

Pechstein has won nine Olympic medals as she added two silver and two bronze medals to her five golden ones from 1992 to 2006.

"As soon as I realized I qualified for my eighth Games I could hug the entire world," she said, referring to the starting in Beijing "the crowning glory of my career."

Over the years Pechstein developed a special fighting spirit after she missed the 2010 Games in Vancouver due to a doping ban. It seemed her paramount desire to prove sportive achievements are possible at an advanced age.

Although she never failed a drug test and denied doping, her blood showed abnormalities when tested, and the ban by the International Skating Union was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Switzerland. She thus became the first athlete to be banned over screenings in her biological passport.

"It means everything for me to again be around 30 years after my first start," she added. Ahead of her 50th birthday on February 22, she said the Beijing Games is "the biggest present I could possibly make myself."

Pechstein most likely won't win another medal, but that doesn't seem to bother her much. The German athlete is overwhelmed by just being part and is dreaming of carrying the German flag at the opening ceremony.

"In my sports, you have many competitions such as continental events and world championships. One can say competitions took and take place inflationary. Therefore, the Olympic Games are something very special," Pechstein said.