Holger Zander ( German: Holger Zander ; May 24, 1943 , St. Michelisdon ) - German kayaker , played for the national teams of Germany and the United Germany throughout the 1960s. Silver and bronze medalist of the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo, silver and bronze medalist of the world championships, winner of silver and bronze medals in European championships, winner of many regattas of national and international importance.
| Holger Zander | |
|---|---|
| personal information | |
| Floor | |
| A country |  Germany |
| Specialization | kayak sprint |
| Club | WSV Rheintreue |
| Date of Birth | May 24, 1943 (aged 76) |
| Place of Birth | St. Michelisdon , Germany |
| Growth | 176 cm |
| Weight | 78 kg |
Biography
Holger Zander was born May 24, 1943 in the commune of St. Michelisdon . He began to actively engage in rowing from early childhood, at first he was trained in Cologne at the KKM club, later he moved permanently to Düsseldorf and joined the local Rheintroy sports club.
He achieved his first serious success at the adult international level in 1963, when he joined the German national team and attended the World Cup in the Yugoslav Egg (the European Championship was also played here), from where he brought the bronze dignity award won with team mate Heinz Bücker double kayaks at a distance of 500 meters - in the final race they were passed only by two crews from Romania.
Thanks to a series of successful performances, Zander won the right to defend the country's honor at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo , where he represented the so-called United German Team , assembled from athletes from Germany and the GDR. Paired with the same Heinz Bücker, he started here in twos at a thousand meters, successfully qualified in the preliminary stage and went through the semi-finals, and in the decisive race he finished third and won the Olympic bronze medal, losing only to teams from Sweden and the Netherlands. He also performed in fours at a thousand meters, as part of the crew, which included rowers Gunter Perleberg , Bernhard Schulze and Friedhelm Wencke , won a silver medal - only the Soviet crew of Nikolai Chuzhikov , Anatoly Grishin , Vyacheslav Ionov and Vladimir Moroz passed them at the finish line.
Having become a two-time Olympic medalist, Holger Zander remained in the main composition of the FRG rowing team and continued to take part in major international regattas. So, in 1966, he performed at the world championship in East Berlin, where he and Bücker received silver medals in the half-kilometer discipline of double-kayaks - the finish line was better than them only the Romanian crew Vasile Nikoare and Atanasie Schotnika . The last time showed any significant result in the international arena in the 1967 season, when he won the silver medal in the relay at the European home championship in Duisburg. As one of the leaders of the German national team, Zander passed the selection for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City , but this time he could not get into the number of winners - paired with Bernhard Schulze finished only nine in the finals of the kilometer discipline.
Subsequently, he remained an active rower until 1972, regularly won medals of republican and regional significance, but he could not break into the main team and did not go to major international tournaments. He tried to qualify for the home Olympic Games in Munich , but could not do it because of too high competition in the team and soon decided to end his career as a professional athlete.
Literature
- Nationales Olympisches Komitee für Deutschland: Mexico 1968. Unsere Mannschaft. Frankfurt am Main 1968
Links
- Holger Zander - Olympic statistics at Sports-Reference.com
- Holger Zander - medals at major international competitions
- Lists of kayaking and canoeing champions and prize winners (1936-2007 )