Maximilian Reinelt (24 August 1988 – 9 February 2019) 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 ...

and physician. He won a gold medal at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, and a silver medal at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, as well as two

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

and four

European Championships A European Championship is the top level international sports competition between European athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. In the plural, the European Championships also refers t ...

. In 2016, he was awarded the

Silbernes Lorbeerblatt Silbernes Lorbeerblatt (, ), the highest sports award in Germany, was endowed on 23 June 1950 by the German President Theodor Heuss. It is awarded to athletes and teams of exemplary character that have won medals at Olympic and Paralympic Games ...

, Germany's highest sports award.

Career

Reneilt started rowing for Germany as a junior in 2006. He finished second in three U23 World Championship events. In 2010, he was promoted to the senior boat by coach . Reinelt was part of the team that won the gold medal in the men's eight competition at the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. It was Germany's first gold medal in the event since

1988 1988 was a crucial year in the early history of the Internet—it was the year of the first well-known computer virus, the Morris worm, 1988 Internet worm. The first permanent intercontinental Internet link was made between the United State ...

. He also won gold in the men's eight at the

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

and 2011 World Championships and the

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, and 2016 European Championships, and silver at the

, and 2015 World Championships. He was also part of a German team that won a record 36 consecutive races. At the

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, he competed as part of Germany's men's eight team which won the silver medal. The eight rowers were awarded the

(Silver Laurel Leaf), Germany's highest sports award, for their achievement. It was Reinelt's second such award having been similarly recognised for his 2012 Olympic gold. After the 2016 Olympics, Reinelt retired to focus on studying

medicine Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...

Bochum Bochum (, ; ; ; ) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia. With a population of 372,348 (April 2023), it is the sixth-largest city (after Cologne, Düsseldorf, Dortmund, Essen and Duisburg) in North Rhine-Westphalia, the most populous German federa ...

. He was one of three rowers from the German 2016 Olympic team who retired after the Games, the others being Andreas Kuffner and Maximilian Munski. In early 2019, Reinelt became doctor of the Germany U23 rowing squad. He had been scheduled to attend their rowing camp in

Mequinenza Mequinenza () or Mequinensa () is a town and municipality of the province of Zaragoza, in the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It is located beside the river Segre, close to its confluence with the river Ebro between the Mequinenza Dam a ...

, Spain.

Death

On 9 February 2019, Reinelt died whilst skiing in

St. Moritz St. Moritz ( , , ; ; ; ; ) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in the administrative region of Maloja in the Swiss ...

, Switzerland, with his fiancée. Resuscitation attempts failed, and his death was announced by Graubuenden police. Speaking about Reinelt's death,

IOC The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based in L ...

president

Thomas Bach Thomas Bach (born 29 December 1953) is a German lawyer, former foil fencer, and Olympic gold medalist. He has served as the ninth president of the International Olympic Committee since 2013, the first ever Olympic champion to be elected to tha ...

said "Maximilian Reinelt is one of the great athletes of German rowing and beyond that a very likeable person, who has managed to combine competitive sports and his vocational training as a doctor with great success." According to the autopsy, Reinelt was suffering from

Sarcoidosis Sarcoidosis (; also known as Besnier–Boeck–Schaumann disease) is a disease involving abnormal collections of White blood cell, inflammatory cells that form lumps known as granulomata. The disease usually begins in the lungs, skin, or lymph n ...

, which remained asymptomatic. The Sarcoidosis was responsible for the

Arrhythmia Arrhythmias, also known as cardiac arrhythmias, are irregularities in the cardiac cycle, heartbeat, including when it is too fast or too slow. Essentially, this is anything but normal sinus rhythm. A resting heart rate that is too fast – ab ...

, that caused

sudden cardiac death Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest ''SCA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly circulate around the body and the blood flow to the brain and other org ...

.Obduktionsergebnis liegt vor – daran starb der Ulmer Olympiasieger Maximilian Reinelt
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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinelt, Maximilian 1988 births 2019 deaths German male rowers Sportspeople from Ulm Rowers from Baden-Württemberg Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers for Germany Olympic gold medalists for Germany Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics World Rowing Championships medalists for Germany Olympic silver medalists for Germany Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics European Rowing Championships medalists 21st-century German sportsmen