Klaus Riekemann (born 19 May 1940) is a

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

who competed for the

United Team of Germany The United Team of Germany (german: Gesamtdeutsche Mannschaft) was a combined team of athletes from West Germany and East Germany that competed in the 1956, 1960 and 1964 Winter and Summer Olympic Games. In 1956, the team also included athletes f ...

as a West German in the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

. He was born in

Dorsten Dorsten (; Westphalian: ''Dössen'') is a town in the district of Recklinghausen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany and has a population of about 75,000. Dorsten is situated on the western rim of Westphalia bordering the Rhineland. Its histor ...

, though he lived most of his life in Marl, before moving around Europe and America. In the coxed pair, he was European champion in both 1958 and 1959. He was a crew member of the German boat which won the gold medal in the coxed four event at the

. It was after this event that Riekemann made it into the newspapers due to an unfortunate accident. Whilst warming down after his event, he was jumping on a trampoline and misjudged his landing and badly shattered his ankle. His recuperation took a while at an Italian hospital near to Lake Como where the regatta took place. He rowed at the European Championships. At the

1961 European Rowing Championships The 1961 European Rowing Championships were rowing championships held on the Vltava (Moldau) in the Czechoslovakian capital Prague. The event for women was held from 18 to 20 August, and 9 countries competed with 32 boats. The event for men was he ...

, he won a bronze medal in the coxless four. He was also present in the east side of Berlin at the building of the Berlin Wall.

References

1940 births Living people Olympic rowers for the United Team of Germany Rowers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for the United Team of Germany Olympic medalists in rowing West German male rowers Medalists at the 1960 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Silver Laurel Leaf People from Dorsten Sportspeople from Münster (region) Rowers from North Rhine-Westphalia European Rowing Championships medalists {{Germany-rowing-Olympic-medalist-stub