 Jährling (left) withFriedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich and coxGeorg Spohr in 1976 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | (1954-06-20)20 June 1954 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Died | 18 May 2023(2023-05-18) (aged 68) Klötze,Saxony-Anhalt, Germany | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Relatives | Marina Wilke (wife, div.) Rob Jahrling (son) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Harald Jährling (20 June 1954 – 18 May 2023) was a Germanrower who competed forEast Germany in the1976 Summer Olympics and in the1980 Summer Olympics.
Jährling was born inBurg bei Magdeburg in 1954.[1] In 1974, when he was 19, he had a child with rowing coxMarina Wilke; she was 15 at the time.[2] Their son,Rob Jahrling, now lives in Australia and has represented that country in rowing at three Olympic Games.[3] Jährling and Wilke got married in August 1980 soon after they both competed at the1980 Summer Olympics.[4] They later divorced.[2]
Jährling died inKlötze,Saxony-Anhalt on 18 May 2023, at the age of 68.[5]
Jährling crewed the East Germancoxed pair boat withFriedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich and coxGeorg Spohr that won the gold medal at the1976 Montreal Olympics.[1] For his Olympic success, he was awarded thePatriotic Order of Merit in silver (2nd class) by the state.[6] At the1977 World Rowing Championships inAmsterdam, the same team won a silver medal.[7] In the following season, they were beaten byJürgen Pfeiffer andGert Uebeler (with coxOlaf Beyer) at national rowing regattas and thus moved across to the men's eight instead.[4] Jährling became world champion with the eight at the1978 World Rowing Championships inCambridge, New Zealand.[7]
At the 1980 Summer Olympics, he won his second gold medal with the East German boat in the coxed pairs competition.[1] He was once more awarded thePatriotic Order of Merit in silver (2nd class) for his Olympic success.[8]
After his active career, Jährling worked as a rowing coach. With theGerman reunification, the East Germany rowing system collapsed and of some 200 coaches employed by the East German rowing association, only 28 were taken on afterward. Jährling took a job withRowing Australia.[9] He was criticised for selectingSally Robbins for thewomen's eight at the2004 Summer Olympics. Robbins became infamous as "Lay Down Sally" in the Australian media, after stopping rowing in the final 250 m of the Olympic final, a behavior she had displayed in at least six earlier races.[10]
Jahrling's coaching medal record at World Championships consists of:
