Klaus Kröppelien

Joachim Dreifke and Klaus Kröppelien (back) on August 24, 1982 at the World Rowing Championships in Lucerne

Klaus Kröppelien (born June 29, 1958 in Rostock ) is a former rower from the German Democratic Republic . In 1980 he won the Olympic gold medal in a double scull .

The rower from ASK Vorwärts Rostock became Junior World Champion in 1976 with the double scull . In 1977 Kröppelien took third place in the adult class at the GDR championships in double sculls. In 1979, at the World Championships in Bled, the double-fours from the GDR won the title in the line-up of Peter Kersten , Klaus Kröppelien, Karl-Heinz Bußert and Joachim Dreifke . For the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, Peter Kersten qualified in one. Dreifke and Kröppelien started in double sculls and won the gold medal two seconds ahead of the second-placed Yugoslavs. For this success he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver. In 1981 the two Rostockers won the world championships on the regatta course in Oberschleißheim near Munich. In 1982 at the World Championships on the Rotsee near Lucerne, the two took second place behind the Norwegians Alf Hansen and Rolf Thorsen . The career of the Doppelzweiers Dreifke / Kröppelien ended at the GDR championships in 1983 when they were beaten by Thomas Lange and Uwe Heppner .

Klaus Kröppelien was a trained electrical mechanic, belonged to the People's Navy until the fall of the Berlin Wall and worked as a bus driver after the fall of the Wall.

literature

• Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes and biographies. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-348-9 .

Web links

• Klaus Kröppelien in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• German successes at world championships

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Neues Deutschland , August 22, 1980, p. 3