Jürgen Heinz Lothar Gröbler

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(born 31 July 1946,

Magdeburg Magdeburg (; ) is the Capital city, capital of the Germany, German States of Germany, state Saxony-Anhalt. The city is on the Elbe river. Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor, Otto I, the first Holy Roman Emperor and founder of the Archbishopric of Mag ...

) is a German

rowing Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically a ...

coach, formerly the Olympic team coach of

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

and later of

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. He coached crews to medals at ten Olympiads from

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, with the exception of the 1984 Games, which were boycotted by Eastern Bloc countries.

Coaching career

Having studied sports science at

Leipzig University Leipzig University (), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 December 1409 by Frederick I, Electo ...

, he returned to his local rowing club in Magdeburg and first attracted attention by coaching Wolfgang Güldenpfennig to the bronze medal in the 1972 Olympics. He then moved on to coach both the quadruple scull and coxless pairs who won gold at the

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

. The coxless pair of Bernd and Jörg Landvoigt also went on to triumph at the

1980 Summer Olympics The 1980 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad () and officially branded as Moscow 1980 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 19 July to 3 August 1980 in Moscow, Soviet Union, in present-day Russ ...

under Gröbler's guidance. From 1980 to 1990 he was chief coach of the East German women's rowing team. When Germany was reunited and the East German national sports administration collapsed in 1991, Gröbler moved to Britain where he was employed by

Leander Club Leander Club, founded in 1818, is one of the oldest rowing clubs in the world, and the oldest non-academic club. It is based in Remenham in Berkshire, England and adjoins Henley-on-Thames. Only three other surviving clubs were founded prior ...

and the Amateur Rowing Association. Controversy surrounded the appointment, given the suspicions that drug use had been rife in East German sports and that any senior coach would have been involved or had knowledge of the drugs programme. In an interview in 1998 he admitted that he had "difficulties" with the thought that drug taking may have caused medical problems for rowers, and that he had given "snippets" of information to the

Stasi The Ministry for State Security (, ; abbreviated MfS), commonly known as the (, an abbreviation of ), was the Intelligence agency, state security service and secret police of East Germany from 1950 to 1990. It was one of the most repressive pol ...

, the East German security organisation. Steve Redgrave defended him, blaming the East German system for the drug use, rather than Gröbler personally, in keeping with Gröbler's own statement that "I have to live with what went on in East Germany. I was born in the wrong place. It was not possible to walk away." For Great Britain he achieved Olympic golds with: *

Steve Redgrave Sir Steven Geoffrey Redgrave (born 23 March 1962) is a British retired rower who won gold medals at five consecutive Olympic Games from 1984 to 2000. He has also won three Commonwealth Games gold medals and nine World Rowing Championships golds ...

and

Matthew Pinsent Sir Matthew Clive Pinsent, (; born 10 October 1970) is an English rower and broadcaster. During his rowing career, he won 10 world championship gold medals and four consecutive Olympic gold medals. Since retiring, he has worked as a sports b ...

1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...

and

1996 1996 was designated as: * International Year for the Eradication of Poverty Events January * January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...

in the pair * James Cracknell, Tim Foster,

and

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

in the four * Steve Williams, James Cracknell, Ed Coode and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

in the four, *

Tom James Thomas James (c. 1573–1629) was an English librarian and Anglican clergyman. Thomas, Tommy or Tom James may also refer to Sports *Tom James (rower) (born 1984), British rower *Tom James (rugby union, born 1987), Welsh rugby union footballer *To ...

, Steve Williams,

Pete Reed Peter K. Reed (born 27 July 1981) is a retired British Olympic rower. Reed is a three-times Olympic gold medallist – earning gold in the Men's coxless four at the 2008 and 2012 Olympics, and then a gold medal in the Men's eight at the 2016 O ...

, and Andrew Triggs Hodge in

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

in the four, * Alex Gregory,

and Andrew Triggs Hodge in

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

in the four, and * Alex Gregory, Moe Sbihi, George Nash and

Constantine Louloudis Constantine Michael Louloudis (born 15 September 1991) is a Greek-British Rowing (sport), rower. He is an Olympic Games, Olympic medal winner, two-time World Rowing Championships, world champion and four-time The Boat Race, Boat Race winner. Pe ...

in the four * Phelan Hill, Will Satch,

Matt Langridge Matthew Langridge Order of the British Empire, MBE (born 20 May 1983) is a British Rowing (sport), rower. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London he was part of the British crew that won the bronze medal in the Rowing at the 2012 Summer Olympics ...

, Paul Bennett,

, Matt Gotrel, Andrew Triggs Hodge, Tom Ransley and Scott Durant in

in the eight. In August 2000, the month prior to coaching the coxless four to gold in Sydney, he took part in a 3-part

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

documentary, '' Gold Fever''. This followed him and the crew in the years leading up to the Olympics, showing the hard work and tough decisions he faced in the quest for gold. In 2000 he won the

BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award The BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award is an award given annually as part of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ceremony each December. The award is given to the coach who was considered to have made the most substantive contrib ...

, and in March 2006 he was appointed an Honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Culture Secretary

Tessa Jowell Tessa Jane Helen Douglas Jowell, Baroness Jowell, (; 17 September 1947 – 12 May 2018) was a Labour Party (UK), British Labour Party politician and life peer who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) f ...

for his contribution to British sport. In August 2020, it was announced that Grobler was retiring as Chief Coach for British Rowing with immediate effect, then in September 2021 it was announced that he was joining the French Rowing Federation as Executive High Performance Consultant.

Personal life

Grobler lives in

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...

with his wife Angela. They have a son, Chris.

References

Coaching career

Personal life

See also

References