Harald Jährling

Jährling was born in Burg bei Magdeburg in 1954.[1] In 1974, when he was 19, he had a child with rowing cox Marina Wilke; she was 15 at the time.[2] Their son, Rob Jahrling, now lives in Australia and has represented that country in rowing at three Olympic Games.[3] Jährling and Wilke got married in August 1980 soon after they both competed at the 1980 Summer Olympics.[4] They later divorced.[2]

Jährling died in Klötze, Saxony-Anhalt on 18 May 2023, at the age of 68.[5]

Jährling crewed the East German coxed pair boat with Friedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich and cox Georg Spohr that won the gold medal at the 1976 Montreal Olympics.[1] For his Olympic success, he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver (2nd class) by the state.[6] At the 1977 World Rowing Championships in Amsterdam, the same team won a silver medal.[7] In the following season, they were beaten by Jürgen Pfeiffer and Gert Uebeler (with cox Olaf Beyer) at national rowing regattas and thus moved across to the men's eight instead.[4] Jährling became world champion with the eight at the 1978 World Rowing Championships in Cambridge, New Zealand.[7]

At the 1980 Summer Olympics, he won his second gold medal with the East German boat in the coxed pairs competition.[1] He was once more awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver (2nd class) for his Olympic success.[8]

After his active career, Jährling worked as a rowing coach. With the German reunification, the East Germany rowing system collapsed and of some 200 coaches employed by the East German rowing association, only 28 were taken on afterward. Jährling took a job with Rowing Australia.[9] He was criticised for selecting Sally Robbins for the women's eight at the 2004 Summer Olympics. Robbins became infamous as "Lay Down Sally" in the Australian media, after stopping rowing in the final 250 m of the Olympic final, a behavior she had displayed in at least six earlier races.[10]