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 municipali ...

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 regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the northern hemisphere summer and in non- Olympic years is the highlight of ...

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 ( , , Lombard language, Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the List of cities in Italy, second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 ...

, 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 References {{Wo ...

Bled Bled (; german: Veldes,''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 ...

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

1990 World Rowing Championships Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since the ...

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. After the

German reunification German reunification (german: link=no, Deutsche Wiedervereinigung) was the process of re-establishing Germany as a united and fully sovereign state, which took place between 2 May 1989 and 15 March 1991. The day of 3 October 1990 when the Ge ...

, 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

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and came sixth. At the

1992 World Rowing Championships The 1992 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 13 to 16 August 1992 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Since 1992 was an Olympic year for rowing, the World Championships did not include Olympic events scheduled ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

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

sweep rowing Sweep rowing is one of two disciplines of the 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 is an oar on each side of the boat. I ...

, he competed at the

1993 World Rowing Championships The 1993 World Rowing Championships were World Rowing Championships that were held from 30 August to 5 September 1993 at Račice, Czech Republic. Medal summary Men's events Women's events Medal table References {{World Rowing Cham ...

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 The World Rowing Championships is an international rowing regatta organized by FISA (the International Rowing Federation). It is a week-long event held at the end of the no ...

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

1995 World Rowing Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

, 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 sport and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally inc ...

, 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 Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

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

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

, and was survived by his wife and their two children.

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 cancer in Germany Deaths from leukemia Rowers from Berlin