Iris Völkner

Iris Völkner (born October 16, 1960 in Hamburg ) is a former German rower who won an Olympic bronze medal in 1984.

Iris Völkner from the SV Hamburg Police Department began rowing in 1973. In 1979 she won her first German championship title in a foursome with a tax woman . After finishing second in 1980, she won the four-man title again in 1981 and 1982, and Ellen Becker has also been in the four since 1981 . 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 average, as Iris Völkner was only able to compete with difficulty due to spinal problems. 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 Becker and Völkner once again won the German championship title in a four-man with a helmsman.

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.

literature

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

Web links

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