Career
She is a multiple national record holder in the freestyle events. Claudia Poll began swimming in 1979 under coach Francisco Rivas and quickly became one of the best in Central America, winning many regional titles. In 1997, she was named by Swimming World Magazine as the Female Swimmer of the Year.
In Athens 2004, she just missed out on the 400 m freestyle final, finishing ninth in the heats.
In 2002 she was given a four-year doping ban after a failed test for norandrosterone, a metabolite the steroid nandrolone. Her ban was later reduced by FINA to two years.
Poll claimed that the test and sampling methods were flawed and protested her innocence. Poll served as a swimming analyst for the United States. Telemundo network"s Spanish-language coverage of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, though she and most of the Telemundo broadcast crew performed their duties at the network"s studios in Hialeah, Florida, accompanied by video provided by Olympic Broadcasting Services. declared "Honor Citizen" by the Costa Rican Congress in 1996.
Claudia’s parents are both German, but they moved to Nicaragua before starting a family.
Political tensions were rising and after an earthquake that shook the city, the family decided it would be safest to move to Costa Rica. Claudia graduated in Business Administration from the Universidad Internacional de las Américas, San José, Costa Rica, in 1998. Poll became a mother for the first time on August 8, 2007.
Her daughter"s name is Cecilia.