Frank Rühle

The DRR champion in the four without a helmsman 1970 from left to right: Frank Forberger , Frank Rühle, Dieter Grahn and Dieter Schubert

Frank Rühle (born March 5, 1944 in Dohna , Saxony ) is a former German rower who became Olympic champion in the boat class four without a helmsman for the GDR in 1968 and 1972 and won two more gold medals each at world and European championships.

Life

Frank Rühle played handball until the age of 14 and became a rower in 1959. As a teenager he formed a racing community with Dieter Schubert , Dieter Grahn and Frank Forberger , which as a four-man team without a helmsman of the sports club SC Einheit Dresden existed for a total of eleven years. With the exception of 1969, when Frank Rühle fell ill, the boat crew won the gold medal of the international highlight of the year every year from 1966 to 1972.

Frank Rühle achieved his first medal success in the GDR in 1963 with a third place in the GDR championship in the eighth of the SC Einheit Dresden.

For their Olympic victory in 1968, the crew was voted GDR Sportsman of the Year .

Frank Rühle's coach was Hans Eckstein .

Frank Rühle first became a coppersmith and later completed a sports degree at the DHfK Sports University . He worked as a junior coach and later became head association coach of the rowing association of the GDR. After the end of the GDR he became the owner of a sportswear supplier.

Successes in detail

Without specifying the boat class: four without a helmsman

• 1963:
  • GDR Championship, 3rd place in eighth place (SC Einheit Dresden)
• 1965:
  • GDR Championship: 1st place, 2nd place in eighth place (SC Einheit Dresden)
• 1966:
  • GDR Championship, 1st place
  • World Championship: 1st place
• 1967:
  • GDR Championship, 1st place
  • European Championship, 1st place
• 1968:
  • Olympic Games , 1st place
  • GDR Championship, 1st place; 1st place in the eighth (SC unit Dresden)
• 1970:
  • GDR Championship, 1st place; 2nd place in the eighth (SC unit Dresden)
  • World Championship: 1st place
• 1971:
  • GDR Championship, 1st place
  • European Championship, 1st place
• 1972:
  • Olympic Games , 1st place

Awards (selection)

• 1968: Patriotic Order of Merit in silver
• 1971: Star of Friendship between Nations in silver
• 1972: Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold

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 , p. 328. (2nd edition 2004, ISBN 3-89602-538-4 )

Web links

Commons : Frank Rühle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Frank Rühle in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )