The postponement of the 2020 Olympic Games did not only change Japan's plans. Legendary coach Jürgen Gröbler also retired. Gröbler, who announced his retirement in August at the age of 74, was the man who helped bring rowing to an elite level in Britain.
From 1976 to 2016 (except 1984, when East Germany boycotted), at least one athlete coached by Gröbler won Olympic gold. This situation also brought him the title of 'the most successful coach in Olympic history'. The East German sportsman enjoyed a total of 33 gold medals with 20 Olympic championships with Great Britain alone, and 23 medals in the world championships.
Gröbler, who planned to leave his post at the end of Tokyo 2020, changed his mind after the games were postponed for a year due to the pandemic, and retired on the fiftieth anniversary of his start as a professional coach.
The truth is, at the beginning of the journey, Gröbler, who was born in Magdeburg, wanted to become a television cameraman. But because of the length of the waiting list, he decided to study sports science at the University of Leipzig. He was able to apply the education he received to coaching.
Jürgen Heinz Lothar Gröbler (born 31 July 1946, Magdeburg) is a German rowing coach, formerly the Olympic team coach of East Germany and later of Great Britain. He coached crews to medals at every Olympics from 1972 to 2016, with the exception of the 1984 Games, which were boycotted by Eastern Bloc countries.
Like every East German coach, Gröbler worked in the shadow of doping and steroids. The institute where he was a student was the mothership of the East German Sports Doping Program, which operated under Politburo orders. He was also one of the informants of the East German Secret Service 'Stasi'. Regarding that period, Gröbler says, "I had to live with what happened in East Germany. I was born in the wrong place. I couldn't move away."
He not only brought new ideas to rowing in England, but he moved to show that his success was due to his coaching rather than the system he was in. Weight training, gym tests, exercises, and altitude training; were training methods that British rowers had never seen before. Although they found it strange at first, as they adapted, success would follow. The Olympic championship he won in 1992 with Steve Redgrave and Matthew Pinsent was the first Olympic medal brought to Britain. Over the years, Redgrave and Pinsent have become among the most successful names in rowing.
When the German coach first moved to England, his criminal past may have brought controversy, but he managed to overcome it with the techniques he used. One of the characteristics that set Gröbler apart was that he was a pragmatic person who knew well that top-level sports could be brutal. After pushing athletes to their limits in training camps, he liked to chat about other areas of life over a cup of tea and a slice of cake.
Gröbler, who was a big fan of Alex Ferguson, reflected this in his professional life. Just like Ferguson, there were important values he promoted: from self-analysis to motivation, from setting standards to a culture of expectation... Over time, he began to be called the "Alex Ferguson of Rowing". On the other hand, Gröbler loved crazy things. He would break up harmonious, successful teams and form new teams. The experienced coach, who always likes to challenge and push himself, explained this situation by saying, "What is important is not my past, what is important is the next step." He never gave up on overcoming difficulties. Great Britain won Olympic gold in both four singles and eight singles in Sydney 2000 and Rio 2016. Only athletes under a coach like Gröbler could achieve this.
The German coach, who strives to create a critical culture in his half-century coaching career; will always continue to be respected and remembered by the dozens of athletes he helped turn into impressive, resilient people who call him a genius.