Rammstein rocker Till Lindemann's sexual curiosity cost him a promising future as an international swimmer.

The German singer was part of the national team that competed at the Junior European Championships in Florence, Italy - but was thrown off the team when he was caught sneaking out to the city's sex shops.

Lindemann says, "We climbed down the fire escape in the middle of the night to look for these sex shops to find porno magazines.

"As an East German boy that was a dream, to see some porno magazines because they were prohibited. The coaches weren't at all happy about that."