Klaus-Dieter Ludwig
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Born |
2 January 1943 – 18 May
Züllichau |
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Died | 18 May 2016 (2016-05-18) (aged 73) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 55 kg (121 lb) [1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Rowing | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Klaus-Dieter Ludwig , known as Lucky in rowing circles [1] (2 January 1943 – 18 May 2016), was a German coxswain who competed for East Germany in the 1972 Summer Olympics and in the 1980 Summer Olympics . He had a long rowing career and competed on the international stage for 19 seasons, retiring aged 41.
Biography
He was born in 1943 in Züllichau , at the time located in Germany but since the end of World War II part of Poland. [2] He started rowing in 1958 at age 15 but after two or three years, he became a coxswain instead. At 170 cm, he was tall for a cox but he suppressed hunger by heavy smoking to keep his weight at 55 kg, the minimum weight for that role. He competed for the SG Dynamo Potsdam / Sportvereinigung (SV) Dynamo . [1]
Ludwig's first international race was at the 1966 World Rowing Championships in Bled where he won gold with the coxed four. [1]
In 1972 he coxed the East German boat that won the gold medal in the coxed four event . [2] In 1973 he won a silver medal at the European Rowing Championships in Moscow . [3] At the 1980 Olympics he won the gold medal with the East German boat in the men's eight competition . [2] He retired from competitive rowing—aged 41 and after 19 international rowing seasons—after winning silver with the men's eight at the 1984 Friendship Games , dubbed the "alternative Olympics". [1]
Skipping meals, heavy smoking and alcohol consumption took a toll on Ludwig's health. He lived in a care facility since the end of 2015. Shortly before he died on 18 May 2016 he had his stomach removed . [1]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Wendt, Bärbel. "Klaus-Dieter Ludwig "Lucky" in Memoriam" (in German). Potsdamer Ruder-Gesellschaft e.V. Archived from the original on 4 November 2016 . Retrieved 23 April 2018 .
- 1 2 3 Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill ; et al. "Klaus-Dieter Ludwig" . Olympics at Sports-Reference.com . Sports Reference LLC . Archived from the original on 18 April 2020 . Retrieved 23 April 2018 .
- ↑ "(M4+) Men's Coxed Four - Final" . International Rowing Federation . 2 September 1973 . Retrieved 23 April 2018 .