Harald Jährling (born 20 June 1954) is a German rower who competed for East Germany in the

1976 Summer Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

and in the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (russian: Летние Олимпийские игры 1980, Letniye Olimpiyskiye igry 1980), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad (russian: Игры XXII Олимпиады, Igry XXII Olimpiady) and commo ...

Private life

Jährling was born in Burg bei Magdeburg in 1954. In 1974, when he was 19, he had a child with rowing cox

Marina Wilke Marina Wilke (later Jährling, born 28 February 1958) is a German rowing cox who competed for East Germany in the 1976 and 1980 Summer Olympics. Rowing career She was born in Berlin. She competed for . At the 1975 World Rowing Championships ...

; she was 15 at the time. Their son,

Rob Jahrling Robert Jahrling (born 14 February 1974) is an East Berlin-born Olympian rower of East German parentage who competed for Australia at three Olympic Games. He is an Australian state and national champion, a medallist at World Rowing Championships ...

, now lives in Australia and has represented that country in rowing at three Olympic Games. Jährling and Wilke got married in August 1980 soon after they both competed at the

. They later divorced.

Rowing career

He crewed the East German coxed pair boat with

Friedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich Friedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich (born 20 October 1953) is a German Rowing (sport), rower who competed for East Germany in the 1976 Summer Olympics and in the 1980 Summer Olympics. He was born in Packebusch. In 1976 he was a crew member of the East Ge ...

and cox

Georg Spohr Georg Spohr (born 24 January 1951) is a German rowing coxswain who competed for East Germany in the 1976 and in the 1980 Summer Olympics. He was born in Magdeburg Magdeburg (; nds, label=Low Saxon, Meideborg ) is the capital and second ...

that won the gold medal at the

1976 Montreal Olympics Events January * January 3 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 11 – The 1976 Phi ...

. For his Olympic success, he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver (2nd class) by the state. At the

1977 World Rowing Championships The 1977 World Rowing Championships was the 6th World Rowing Championships. The championships were held from 19 to 28 August 1977 on the Bosbaan rowing lake in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Medal summary About 556 rowers from 28 countries competed ...

in Amsterdam, the same team won a silver medal. In the following season, they were beaten by

Jürgen Pfeiffer Jürgen Pfeiffer is a German rower who competed for East Germany. Pfeiffer grew up near Gera. He was twice world champion alongside Gert Uebeler in coxed pair. At the 1978 World Rowing Championships at Lake Karapiro, New Zealand, they became ...

and

Gert Uebeler Gert Uebeler (born 15 March 1957) is a German rower who competed for East Germany. Uebeler was born in 1957 and grew up in Dessau. He was junior men's coxed pair world champion in 1974. He was twice world champion alongside Jürgen Pfeiffer i ...

(with cox Olaf Beyer) at national rowing regattas and thus moved across to the men's eight instead. Jährling became world champion with the eight at the

1978 World Rowing Championships Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd government). * January 6 � ...

Cambridge, New Zealand Cambridge (Māori: ''Kemureti'') is a town in the Waipa District of the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. Situated southeast of Hamilton, on the banks of the Waikato River, Cambridge is known as "The Town of Trees & Champions" ...

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

Coaching career

After his active career, Jährling worked as a rowing coach. With the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, the East Germany rowing system collapsed and of some 200 coaches employed by the East German rowing association, only 28 were taken on afterwards. Jährling took a job with Rowing Australia. He was criticised for selecting Sally Robbins for the women's eight at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. Robbins became infamous as "Lay Down Sally" in the Australian media, after stopping rowing in the final 250 m of the Olympic final, a behaviour she had displayed in at least six earlier races.

Coaching success

Jahrling's coaching medal record at World Championships consists of: *

1994 World Rowing Championships The 1994 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 11 to 18 September 1994 at Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of t ...

Bronze – Australia Men's 2- *

1995 World Rowing Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake strik ...

Silver – Australia Men's 2- *

1997 World Rowing Championships The 1997 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 31 August to 7 September 1997 at Lac d'Aiguebelette, France. The annual week-long rowing regatta was organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation), ...

Bronze – Australia Men's 8+ and Silver – Australia M2+ *

1998 World Rowing Championships The 1998 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 9 to 18 September 1998 in Cologne, Germany. The World Rowing Championships are organized by FISA, the International Rowing Federation. Medal summary Men's e ...

Bronze – Australia Women's 2-

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jahrling, Harald 1954 births Living people People from Burg bei Magdeburg People from Bezirk Magdeburg East German male rowers Sportspeople from Saxony-Anhalt Australian rowing coaches Olympic rowers of East Germany Rowers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for East Germany Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver