THE SPORT OF ROWING education of the oarsman into a socialist sports personality.”5489 British rower, author and journalist Martin Cross:5490 “Perhaps it was the consequence of being schooled in the ways of a deeply collectivised state, where the needs and sometimes the personality of the individual were always secondary to the needs of the many. In some ways, the sport of rowing must have been an ideal metaphor for this model of society.”5491 Rowing News: “‘Sport for the masses’ was more than just a slogan. People of all ages, from children to seniors, were encouraged to participate in the sports of their choosing. At their height in the 1980s, the various sports clubs of GDR have more than three million members out of a population of seventeen million. Any fees to join or support clubs were nominal. Young children were encouraged to participate in various sports to develop their motor and social skills.”5492 In the sport of rowing, in order to supplement the vast network of pre-existing local clubs, there were eight elite national centers around the country – SC Dynamo Berlin, SG Dynamo Potsdam, SC Berlin- Grünau, SC Einheit-Dresden, SC DHfK Leipzig, ASK Vörwarts Rostock, SC Magdeburg, SC Chemie Halle – some dedicated to rowing and sculling only, others combining rowing facilities with those for other international sports. 5489 Qtd. by Xavier Macia, The Continuing Legacy of East Germany’s Rowing Machine, Rowing News, October 2005, p. 51 5490 See Chapter 130. 5491 Cross, p. 95 5492 Macia, op. cit., p. 52 Thomas Lange, 1988 and 1992 Olympic Singles Champion: “I started out as a swimmer. I was not bad at the sport, and had some success with it as well. There was also a sports academy connected with our swim club, and at that time it was decided that although I was a good swimmer, I would probably never be super successful with the sport. Even at that age I was too heavy, had a very broad body and I was big in the hips. Long term, I would not have the anatomical capacity to be an elite swimmer. After that, I was out of the swim program. “Sometime later, I came to the sport of rowing. My father was also a rower and encouraged me at that time to take up the sport.5493 I started rowing and was successful with the sport Ted Nash Collection as a junior and stuck with it. “There were also a lot of kids my age who started at the same time I did, and we had a lot of fun together. We trained together, and on the weekends travelled to regattas and raced, and it was fun. As I remember it, it was a nice time in my life. “Even as a child at the junior level, we trained six days a week, with Monday being our day off. I always wanted to be at the rowing club. Even on the days we didn’t row, my friends were there, and we were either in the gym or out playing football together. I have very positive memories of my time at the rowing club as a child.”5494 5493 Lange: “Actually, my father was not a rower, but he found rowing to be a beautiful sport. For that reason, he instructed my mother to take me there.” personal correspondence, 2008 5494 www.rudern1.de/Rowing1/2005/07/Thomas LangeInterview.php 1518
