Walter Dießner

Walter Dießner (born December 26, 1954 in Meißen ) is a former rower from the GDR. In 1980 he became Olympic champion in a four-man team .

Life

Walter Dießner is the older brother of Ullrich Dießner , while Walter Dießner was born shortly before midnight, Ullrich was born shortly afterwards and therefore has a different birthday than his twin brother. In addition to their rowing careers, both brothers learned the trade of toolmaker and both trained at SC Einheit Dresden under Hans Eckstein .

In 1972 the two junior world champions became two-man without a helmsman . In 1974 the brothers together with Rüdiger Kunze , Andreas Schulz and helmsman Wolfgang Groß won the world championship title in the adult class in a four-man with helmsman. In 1975 the boat won the World Championship silver behind the four from the Soviet Union. Also at the 1976 Olympic Games, the Dresden four-man with helmsman was defeated by the boat from the Soviet Union, but Johannes Thomas helmsman was now for Wolfgang Groß. After these two silver medals, the four was replaced, in 1977 and 1978 the two Dießners competed with Gottfried Döhn , Dieter Wendisch and helmsman Andreas Gregor and each won the world championship title. Up until then, the four-man had only started with rowers from Einheit Dresden, and rowers from Leipzig and Potsdam also came on board for the 1979 season. In the line-up of Ullrich Dießner, Jens Doberschütz , Walter Dießner, Bernd Schlufter and helmsman Lutz Werner , the boat won the world championship again, for the Dießners it was the third title in a row and the fourth overall. At the 1980 Olympic Games , the four-man again appeared in the Dresden line-up of 1977 and 1978, together with Döhn, Wendisch and Gregor, the Dießners became Olympic champions in Moscow, with a four and a half second lead over the Soviet boat at the finish.

In 1981 the Dießners started in the GDR eighth, but only finished fourth at the world championship. Walter Dießner then interrupted his career for a year, in 1983 he returned with the four-man without a helmsman and took third place in the GDR championship. Walter Dießner later retrained as a baker and ran his own bakery in Meissen. His son Jörg Dießner took part in the 2000 Olympic rowing competitions.

Walter Dießner was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze in 1976 and in silver in 1980.

Overview of successes

Olympic games

• 1976: Silver foursome with helmsman
• 1980: Gold foursome with helmsman

World championships

• 1974: Gold foursome with helmsman
• 1975: Silver foursome with helmsman
• 1977: Gold foursome with helmsman
• 1978: Gold foursome with helmsman
• 1979: Gold foursome with helmsman

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 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ About the honor for the Olympic team of the GDR. Awarded high government awards. Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze. In: New Germany . September 10, 1976, p. 4 , accessed on April 10, 2018 (online at ZEFYS - newspaper portal of the Berlin State Library , free registration required). 
2. ↑ Neues Deutschland, August 22, 1980, p. 3

Web links

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