Marina Wilke (later Jährling, born 28 February 1958) is a German rowing cox who competed for

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 ...

in the

1976 Events January * January 2 – The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights enters into force. * January 5 – The Pol Pot regime proclaims a new constitution for Democratic Kampuchea. * January 18 – Full diplomatic ...

and

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 ...

Rowing career

She was born in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

. She competed for . At the

1975 World Rowing Championships The 1975 World Rowing Championships was the fifth World Rowing Championships. It was held from 21 to 30 August at Holme Pierrepont National Watersports Centre in Nottingham, England, United Kingdom. Medal summary Medalists at the 1975 World ...

Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...

, she won a gold medal coxing the

women's eight An eight, abbreviated as an 8+, is a racing shell used in competitive rowing (crew). It is designed for eight rowers, who propel the boat with sweep oars, and is steered by a coxswain, or "cox". Each of the eight rowers has one oar. The rowers ...

. In 1976 she was the coxswain of the East German boat that won the Olympic gold medal in the eight event. For her Olympic success, she was awarded the

Patriotic Order of Merit The Patriotic Order of Merit (German: ''Vaterländischer Verdienstorden'', or VVO) was a national award granted annually in the German Democratic Republic (GDR). It was founded in 1954 and was awarded to individuals and institutions for outstanding ...

in silver (2nd class) by the state. At 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 ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, she was the cox for the women's four that won gold. In February 1978, she was given the sports awards Honoured Master of Sports. At 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 ...

Cambridge, New Zealand Cambridge () is a town in the Waipā District of the Waikato region of the North Island of New Zealand. Situated southeast of Hamilton, New Zealand, Hamilton, on the banks of the Waikato River, Cambridge is known as "The Town of Trees & Champi ...

, she won a silver medal with the women's eight. She won another silver medal in the same boat class at the

1979 World Rowing Championships The 1979 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August – 9 September 1979 at Bled in Slovenia, Yugoslavia. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table This table does not include th ...

Bled Bled (; ,''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 146. in older sources also ''Feldes'') is a town on Lake Bled in the Upper Carniolan regio ...

. At the

, she won her second Olympic gold medal as cox of the East German boat in the eight competition. She was once more awarded the

in silver (2nd class) for her Olympic success.

Private life

Wilke received her schooling at Conrad Blenkle

Polytechnic Secondary School The polytechnic secondary school, officially ''ten-class general educational polytechnic secondary school'', abbreviation POS, pronounced P-O-S, was the standard type of school in the Education in East Germany, school system of East Germany. The ...

in the

Köpenick Köpenick () is a historic town and locality (''Ortsteil'') in Berlin, situated at the confluence of the rivers Dahme and Spree in the south-east of the German capital. It was formerly known as Copanic and then Cöpenick, only officially ado ...

suburb of

East Berlin East Berlin (; ) was the partially recognised capital city, capital of East Germany (GDR) from 1949 to 1990. From 1945, it was the Allied occupation zones in Germany, Soviet occupation sector of Berlin. The American, British, and French se ...

. Before she had her rowing career, she had a son— Rob Jahrling—with Harald Jährling in 1974 shortly before her 16th birthday. She retired from rowing after the 1980 Olympics and married her fellow Olympic rower Harald Jährling in August 1980, shortly after the Olympics. They later divorced. Their son has represented Australia in rowing at three consecutive Olympic Games.

References

External links

Photo of Wilke
in 1977 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilke, Marina 1958 births Living people Rowers from Berlin East German female rowers German coxswains (rowing) Olympic rowers for East Germany Rowers at the 1976 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 1980 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for East Germany Olympic medalists in rowing World Rowing Championships medalists for East Germany Medalists at the 1980 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1976 Summer Olympics Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver Sportspeople from East Berlin People from Treptow-Köpenick