Heinz-Jürgen Bothe

Heinz-Jürgen Bothe (born November 5, 1941 in Berlin ) is a former rower from the GDR. In 1968 Bothe became Olympic champion in the boat class two without a helmsman .

Bothe began rowing during his professional training as a boat builder. In 1961 he was the first GDR champion with the four-man without a helmsman. He later moved from TSC Oberschöneweide to TSC Berlin .

In 1966 Bothe was third in the eighth place in the World Championship , Jörg Lucke was also in the boat . A year later, the eighth finished fourth at the European Championship. Together with Lucke, Bothe qualified in two without a helmsman for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico. On the Olympic regatta course in Xochimilco , the two won 0.15 seconds ahead of the boat from the United States. After the European Championship in 1969, when both of them in a four-man with helmsman received silver behind the West German Lake Constance four , Bothe ended his career.

The trained boat builder worked at the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment in Berlin. Bothe was involved in the development and construction of the blue rowing boats, with which the GDR rowing association achieved its supremacy in international rowing in the 1970s and 1980s.

Awards (selection)

• 1968: Patriotic Order of Merit in silver

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 .
• Volker Kluge: Summer Olympic Games. The Chronicle III. Mexico City 1968 - Los Angeles 1984. Sportverlag Berlin, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-328-00741-5 .

Web links

• Heinz-Jürgen Bothe in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )