Stephan Fahrig (20 November 1968 – 23 January 2017) was a German lightweight rower and a sports scientist. Fahrig was born in 1968 in

Unkel Unkel () is a town in the district of Neuwied, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, near Remagen, about 20 km southeast of Bonn. Unkel is the seat of the ''Verbandsgemeinde'' ("collective municip ...

in West Germany. He took up rowing aged 14 and over his career, he won 15 national titles. Initially rowing for WSV Bad Honnef, he later changed to RTHC Bayer Leverkusen. He attended all

World Rowing Championships The World Rowing Championships is an international Rowing (sport), rowing regatta organized by International Rowing Federation, FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer ...

between 1988 and 1995. He was regarded as a leader among his rowing colleagues, had a disciplined training regime, and an aim for perfection. At the 1988 World Rowing Championships in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, he competed with the lightweight men's eight and came fourth. He won a gold medal at the

1989 World Rowing Championships The 1989 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 2 to 10 September 1989 at Lake Bled near Bled in SR Slovenia, Yugoslavia. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table Footnotes Ref ...

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 ...

with the lightweight men's four. He retained his world championship title with the lightweight men's four at the

1990 World Rowing Championships The 1990 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 31 October to 4 November 1990 at Lake Barrington in Tasmania, Australia. German teams A month prior to the World Championships, Germany completed the polit ...

Tasmania Tasmania (; palawa kani: ''Lutruwita'') is an island States and territories of Australia, state of Australia. It is located to the south of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland, and is separated from it by the Bass Strait. The sta ...

. After the

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, he competed at the

1991 World Rowing Championships The 1991 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 19 to 25 August 1991 in Vienna, Austria. The regatta was held on the New Danube. Medal summary The finals were raced on Saturday and Sunday, 24 and 25 Augus ...

with the lightweight men's four in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

and came sixth. At the 1992 World Rowing Championships in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, he won bronze with the lightweight men's quad scull. Changing back to

sweep rowing Sweep rowing is one of two disciplines of the rowing (sport), sport of rowing. In sweep rowing each rower has one oar, usually held with both hands. As each rower has only one oar, the rowers have to be paired so that there are equal numbers of ...

, he competed at the 1993 World Rowing Championships in Račice in the lightweight men's pair, and he won a bronze medal together with Herbert Vogt. At the

1994 World Rowing Championships The 1994 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 11 to 18 September 1994 at Eagle Creek Park, Indianapolis, United States. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table References

...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, he competed with the lightweight men's four and won bronze. His final international competition was the

1995 World Rowing Championships The 1995 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 20 to 28 August 1995 at Lake Kaukajärvi, Tampere Tampere is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Pirkanmaa. It is located in the Finnish Lakel ...

, where he came fourth with the lightweight men's eight. In 2010, he obtained a doctorate in

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sports and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally i ...

, with the title of his thesis "Interaktionsproblematik im Riemenzweier der Sportart Rudern" (Problematic of the interaction of paired sweep rowers in the sport of rowing). He lived 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 ...

, where he was distribution manager for medical equipment and competed in cycling. He died in 2017 from

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia; pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and produce high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or '' ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fahrig, Stephan 1968 births 2017 deaths German male rowers World Rowing Championships medalists for West Germany World Rowing Championships medalists for Germany Deaths from leukemia in Germany Rowers from Berlin 20th-century German sportsmen