Stefan Henze (3 May 1981 – 15 August 2016) was a German slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1996 to 2011.

Career

Henze won a silver medal in the C2 event 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), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. He also won six medals at the

ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships are an international event in canoeing organized by the International Canoe Federation. The World Championships have taken place every year in non- Summer Olympic years since 2002. From 1949 to 1999, they ...

with a gold (C2:

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

), four silvers (C2:

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, C2 team: 2003, 2006,

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

), and a bronze (C2: 2005). He won a gold and two silvers in the C2 team event at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. His partner in the C2 boat throughout his career was

Marcus Becker Marcus Becker (born 11 September 1981 in Merseburg) is a German slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1996 to 2011. He won a silver medal in the C2 event at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. Becker won six medals at the ...

. His father Jürgen Henze is world champion in the C2 team event from 1975 and his older brother

Frank Henze Frank Henze (born 1 April 1977 in Leipzig) is a German slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1995 to 2013. He won three medals in the C2 team event at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with two silvers (2002, 2009) ...

is also a canoe slalom racer and multiple world championship medalist.

World Cup individual podiums

¹ World Championship counting for World Cup points

Death

On 12 August 2016, Henze suffered serious head injuries after a car crash in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, where he coached during the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, and died three days later. Henze donated his organs. After he died, his heart, his liver and both of his kidneys were transplanted into seriously ill people in a hospital in Rio de Janeiro.

References

12 September 2009 final results for the men's C2 team slalom event for the 2009 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships.
accessed 12 September 2009.

*
OSI-Leipzig.de profile
1981 births 2016 deaths Sportspeople from Halle (Saale) People from Bezirk Halle German male canoeists Olympic canoeists for Germany Canoeists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in canoeing Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Medalists at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships Recipients of the Silver Laurel Leaf Olympic deaths Road incident deaths in Brazil {{Germany-canoe-Olympic-medalist-stub