Julia Schwarzbach, born Julia Rohde on May 13, 1989, in Görlitz, is a German weightlifter. She began her athletic career as a competitive dancer at age eleven before switching to weightlifting. Since 2006, she has trained as a sports soldier at the federal weightlifting center in Leimen, Baden. Rohde was the first German female weightlifter to lift more than twice her body weight, achieving 108 kg.
At the 2008 European Championships in Lignano, Rohde won bronze in the combined event and silver in the clean and jerk with a total of 188 kg (105 kg clean and jerk, 83 kg snatch), setting new German records. This was Germany’s first weightlifting medal since Monique Riesterer’s eight years earlier. She qualified for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, finishing sixth in the 53 kg category after a disqualification. Due to a rib fracture, she missed the 2009 European Championships and returned to training after eight months. In 2010, she placed tenth at the World Championships and won three gold medals at the U23 European Championships in Limassol with a total of 188 kg, outperforming competitors by 14 kg.
In 2011, after the disqualification of a competitor for doping, Rohde was elevated to silver medalist in the 53 kg class at the European Championships in Kazan. She won the German national title in the up to 58 kg class and set a German snatch record of 86 kg. At the 2011 World Championships, she placed 14th in the 53 kg category with a total of 191 kg, equaling the German snatch record. At the 2012 London Olympics, she set new German records with 108 kg in the clean and jerk and 192 kg total, finishing 11th.
Since October 2011, Rohde has volunteered as the German animal protection ambassador for the German Animal Welfare Federation. In February 2014, she married German weightlifter Tom Schwarzbach and adopted his surname. She won a silver medal at the 2015 European Weightlifting Championships.
Germany
