Ellen Becker

Ellen Becker (born August 3, 1960 in Duisburg ) is a former German rower who won an Olympic bronze medal in 1984.

Career

Ellen Becker from RV Münster in 1882 switched from swimming to rowing in 1978. As early as 1979 she was part of the German national team and finished eighth at the rowing world championships with the German eighth. Since 1981 she has rowed together with Iris Völkner from Hamburg , with whom she became German champion in the foursome with helmswoman in 1981 and 1982 . Becker and Völkner also competed together in pairs without a helmsman and won four German championship titles in this boat class from 1981 to 1984. In 1983 the two finished fourth at the World Rowing Championships.

When it became clear in the run-up to the 1984 Olympic Games that the teams from the Eastern Bloc, with the exception of Romania, would not take part, Becker and Völkner were promoted to medal candidates, but the results of the season were rather mixed, as Ellen Becker was late in shape due to a viral illness . At the Olympic Games in Los Angeles only six boats competed in pairs without, Becker and Völkner took third place behind the boats from Romania and Canada. The two rowers also competed in eighth, but only finished sixth and last there.

In 1985, Ellen Becker moved from Münster back to her hometown and now competed for the Duisburg RV . In 1985 Becker and Völkner once again won the German championship title in a four-man with a helmsman. In 1986 Ellen Becker and Annette Wolter switched from the four to the two without and also won a championship title in this boat class.

The bronze medal from Iris Völkner and Ellen Becker was the first medal for rowers from the Federal Republic of Germany since Edith Eckbauer and Thea Einöder had also won bronze eight years earlier. The two medals in twos without a helmsman remained the only medals for West German rowers until reunification with the GDR.

Publications

• Ellen Becker: With skirt and strap. The development of women rowing in the German Reich and in the Federal Republic . Tiger-Verlag, Greven 1992, ISBN 3-929302-00-4

literature

• National Olympic Committee for Germany: Los Angeles 1984. The Olympic team of the Federal Republic of Germany . Frankfurt am Main 1984

Web links

• Ellen Becker in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• German championships in foursome
• German championships in two without a helmsman