Bärbel Bendiks is a rower who competed for East Germany in the 1970s and early 1980s. Bendiks rowed for SC Berlin-Grünau. At the 1976 East German national championships, Bendiks rowed with the coxed pair and the women's eight; she came first and second, respectively. However, that year women's rowing was introduced at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

and the Olympic team members did not participate at the national championships. At the 1977 East German national championships, Bendiks won the coxed four title alongside Marion Rohs, Katja Rothe, Ilona Richter, and coxswain Marina Wilke. That team went to 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 a ...

on the

Bosbaan The Bosbaan is a rowing lake situated in the Amsterdamse Bos (Amsterdam Forest) in Amstelveen, Netherlands. Amstelveen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands and is part of the metropolitan area of Amsterdam. Confusingly, all built stru ...

rowing lake in the Netherlands where they became world champions. In February 1978, she was given two sports awards: Master of Sport and Honoured Master of Sports. At the 1978 East German national championships, Bendiks came third with the coxed four and took out the national title with the women's eight. She went to the

1978 World Rowing Championships The 1978 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 October to 5 November at Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, New Zealand. Twenty-eight countries were represented at the regatta. In the history of the World Ro ...

Lake Karapiro Lake Karapiro () is an artificial reservoir lake on the Waikato River at Karapiro, south-east of Cambridge, New Zealand, Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island. The lake was formed in 1947 by the damming of the Waikato River to store water for ...

in New Zealand as a reserve but did not compete. It was at those championships that she got closer to one of the male rowers whom she later married;

Uli Schmied Hans-Ulrich Schmied (born 23 February 1947) is a retired German rower who specialized in the double sculls. In this event he won bronze medals at the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games and finished in fifth place in 1968. He also won one world (1974) a ...

was also present as a reserve. At the 1980 East German national championships, Bendiks came third with the women's eight; again, the Olympic team members were absent from that competition. At the 1981 East German national championships, Bendiks came third with the coxed four and took out the title with the women's eight. She went to the

1981 World Rowing Championships The 1981 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 6 September 1981 at Oberschleißheim Regatta Course in Oberschleißheim near Munich, West Germany. Medal summary Men's events Women's events ...

that were held near

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

in Germany where the women's eight came fifth.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bendiks, Barbel Year of birth missing (living people) East German female rowers World Rowing Championships medalists for East Germany Recipients of the Master of Sport Living people