Jürgen Gröbler

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Jürgen Gröbler (born July 31, 1946, Magdeburg) is a German rowing coach, formerly the Olympic team coach of East Germany and later of Great Britain.

As rowing coach of East Germany, Gröbler produced gold medal winning crews in the Olympics from 1972 to 1988.

Gröbler moved to Britain in 1991, and coached Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent to Olympic Gold Medals in 1992 and 1996 in the pair, James Cracknell, Tim Foster, Redgrave and Pinsent to the 2000 four, and Steve Williams, Cracknell, Ed Coode and Pinsent to gold in the 2004 four.

In August 2000, the month prior to coaching the coxless four to gold in Sydney, he took part in a 3-part BBC documentary entitled Gold Fever. This followed him and the team in the years leading up to the Olympics, showing the hard work and tough decisions he faced in the quest for gold.

In 2000 he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Coach Award, and in March 2006 he was awarded an honorary Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell for his contribution to British sport.^[1]