Gustav Schäfer (22 September 1906 – 12 December 1991) was a German

rower Rowing, often called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars (called blades in the United Kingdom) are attached to the boat using rowlocks, while paddles are ...

who competed in the

1936 Summer Olympics The 1936 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XI Olympiad () and officially branded as Berlin 1936, were an international multi-sport event held from 1 to 16 August 1936 in Berlin, then capital of Nazi Germany. Berlin won the bid to ...

. He was born in

Johanngeorgenstadt Johanngeorgenstadt (, ) is a mining town in Saxony’s Ore Mountains, 17 km south of Aue, and 27 km northwest of Karlovy Vary. It lies in the district of Erzgebirgskreis, on the border with the Czech Republic, is a state-recognized hea ...

. In 1911, his family moved to

Dresden Dresden (; ; Upper Saxon German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. Schäfer's sporting career started in swimming. After school, he trained as a baker. He first tried rowing in 1929 when a rowing club in the suburb of

Blasewitz Blasewitz is a larger borough (''Stadtbezirk'') of Dresden, Germany in the city's eastern centre on the Elbe river. It consists of seven quarters (''Stadtteile''): *Blasewitz *Striesen-Ost *Striesen-Süd *Striesen-West *Tolkewitz/Seidnitz-Nord *S ...

made its club house available for a dance; he started training in March 1929. At the

he won the gold medal in the

single sculls A single scull (or a scull), abbreviated as a 1x, is a racing shell designed for a single person who propels the boat with two oars, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly semi-circular in cross-sec ...

competition. He died in

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 1991.

References

External links

Gustav Schäfer at databaseOlympics.com
1906 births 1991 deaths People from Johanngeorgenstadt Sportspeople from the Kingdom of Saxony German male rowers Rowers from Saxony Rowers at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for Germany Medalists at the 1936 Summer Olympics Olympic medalists in rowing Olympic gold medalists for Germany European Rowing Championships medalists 20th-century German sportsmen {{Germany-rowing-Olympic-medalist-stub