Dresden – A City with Rowing Tradition

The state capital Dresden, located in the heart of Saxony, is not only known as a city of art and culture with numerous landmarks such as the baroque Zwinger Palace and the Frauenkirche, but also for the picturesque course of the Elbe river. Due to its impressive art collections and baroque architecture, Dresden also bears the nickname "Florence on the Elbe".

At the same time, the presence of the Elbe also shapes Dresden's sporting landscape and provides ideal conditions for rowing. The origins of rowing in Dresden date back to the late 19th century, and the sport has been a core discipline in the city since the beginning of the modern Olympic Games in 1896.

This is also reflected in the distribution of Saxon rowing clubs, which have a total of over 2,150 active members. In Dresden and the surrounding area alone, eight member clubs of the Saxon Rowing Association (founded in 1990) are based along the Elbe. In addition, one of the two state-wide training centres is located in Dresden due to its optimal conditions.

Numerous athletes from Dresden have benefited from the excellent conditions of professional training environments in all sporting disciplines, both on the water and on land, and have celebrated international success. The Olympic medals won for the city since 1936 are exemplary of the careers in rowing that have emerged from Dresden.

Dresden Olympic Medal Winners in Rowing

Olympic Games 2016 (Rio de Janeiro)

Gold Karl Schulze Quadruple sculls

Olympic Games 2012 (London)

Gold Tim Grohmann Quadruple sculls

Gold Karl Schulze Quadruple sculls

Olympic Games 2004 (Athens)

Silver Peggy Waleska Double sculls

Silver Claudia Blasberg Lightweight double sculls

Olympic Games 2000 (Sydney)

Silver Claudia Blasberg Lightweight double sculls

Olympic Games 1992 (Barcelona)

Bronze Annegret Strauch Eight

Olympic Games 1988 (Seoul)

Gold Kerstin Pieloth-Förster Quadruple sculls

Gold Beatrix Schröer, Annegret Strauch Eight

Gold Olaf Förster, Thomas Greiner Coxless four

Olympic Games 1980 (Moscow)

Gold Ullrich Dießner, Walter Dießner, Gottfried Döhn, Dieter Wendisch, Andreas Gregor (cox) Coxed four

Gold Sybille Tietze Quadruple sculls

Gold Gabriele Kühn, Karin Metze Eight

Gold Sybille Reinhardt Quadruple sculls

Gold Jens Doberschütz Eight

Olympic Games 1976 (Montreal)

Gold Christine Scheiblich Single sculls

Gold Andrea Kurth, Gabriele Kühn, Karin Metze, Bianka Schwede, Sabine Heß (cox) Coxed four

Gold Gottfried Döhn, Dieter Wendisch Eight

Silver Ullrich Dießner, Walter Dießner, Andreas Schulz, Rüdiger Kunze Coxed four

Olympic Games 1972 (Munich)

Gold Frank Forberger, Dieter Grahn, Frank Rühle, Dieter Schubert Coxless four

Olympic Games 1968 (Mexico City)

Gold Frank Forberger, Dieter Grahn, Frank Rühle, Dieter Schubert Coxless four

Silver Peter Kremtz, Roland Göhler, Manfred Gelpke, Klaus Jacob, Dieter Semetzky (cox) Coxed four

Olympic Games 1936 (Berlin)

Gold Gustav Schäfer Single sculls

Gold Hugo Strauß Pair

In addition to competitive rowing – from traditional regatta racing to new formats such as Coastal Rowing and Sprint Rowing – Dresden also offers the opportunity to practice rowing as a hobby, with offerings in recreational and touring rowing.

Although there is not yet an explicit rowing club for Indoor Rowing in Dresden, rowing on the ergometer is widely established and an integral part of the training of many athletes. With the European Rowing Indoor Championships in Dresden, the format established in 2019 will take place in Germany for the first time.

Indoor Rowing

Indoor Rowing is a separate sport that, as the name suggests, takes place indoors on a rowing ergometer. While this variant is mainly used in rowing clubs and fitness studios to train regardless of the weather, even during winter, various competitions on the rowing ergometer now take place throughout the year. A highlight of the Indoor Rowing competition calendar in the coming months is the European Championships in Dresden.

Most indoor rowing races are held over the Olympic regatta distance of 2000 metres. In addition, there are structured competition classes to ensure fair conditions based on age, weight and performance level. Official championships such as the European Championships use standardised categories.

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