Manfred Gelpke

Manfred Gelpke ( born March 3, 1940 in Dresden ) is a retired rower from the German Democratic Republic. In 1968 he won the silver medal in the coxed four at the Olympic Games.

Sporting career

Manfred Gelpke competed for the SC Einheit Dresden and trained under Hans Eckstein. Along with Lothar Schmidt 1963 and 1964 he was runner-up in each of the GDR in the coxless pairs. From 1965 he sat in twos along with Klaus Jacob, with whom he was in 1966 GDR Champion. 1965 and 1970, he finished each in the GDR Championship second in the eighth. In 1968, a mere eight Dresden GDR champion. In this boat Forberger Frank, Dieter Grahn, Peter Kremtz, Frank Rühle, Klaus Jacob, Manfred Gelpke, Dieter Schubert, Roland Göhler and helmsman Dieter Semetzky sat.

For this boat made ​​Hans Eckstein for the 1968 Olympic Games a coxless four from Forberger, Grahn, Schubert and Rühle and a coxed four from Jacob, Gelpke, Kremtz, Göhler and Semetzky. On the regatta course of Xochimilco of four without any gold, with four won silver behind the New Zealanders won. For winning the silver medal Gelpke was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze. In 1969 he was again GDR champion with the quad.

Manfred Gelpke was a skilled modeller. With a correspondence course at the DHfK he achieved a degree in physical education teacher. From 1978 he worked at the municipal vocational school in Dresden.