Germany's Dienstbach out of Olympic Four

Dienstbach in action
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Germany’s Paul Dienstbach’s four year lead up to the Olympics has come to an abrupt end after ongoing health problems. As a member of the German four Dienstbach was an Olympic medal contender as the crew has been on the World Championship medals podium for the last three years.

In 2002 the four beat Great Britain to become World Champions and in the process set the record for the World Best time. Dienstbach also has a silver from 2001 and a bronze from 2003.

Head coach Dieter Grahn made the decision after a step test last week indicated that Dienstbach was not back to full strength. ?I’m sorry for Paul that we had to make this decision,? said Grahn. ?It was very hard.?

Dienstbach has been replaced by 20-year-old spare of the men’s eight, Jochen Urban. Urban was the 2001 Junior World Champion and as the spare for the eight thought that his Olympic hopes were over.

?It’s been a really turbulent time,? said Urban who raced in the four at the Lucerne World Cup last month as Dienstbach’s replacement. But Urban has the full backing of Grahn. ?Jochen is young and with him we have the same chance of a medal,? said Grahn.

Dienstbach, however, believes the decision to remove him from the team was premature. “I invested one year completely in the sport,” says Dienstbach. “But the time is not completely lost, you experience it anyway.”

Dienstbach hopes to build up trust in his body’s strength and do the step test again to see if there is an upward trend in his strength. If there is then he will try to become the Olympic spare for the men’s sweep team. 

“If I should continue my rowing career,” says Dienstbach, “it is because I realise that I am not done with the sport yet.”