Achim HILL

Sculler Achim Hill won two silver medals with the mixed German team in 1960 at Roma and 1964 at Tokyo, becoming the first East German rower to win Olympic medals. He then finished fifth for East Germany at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. In 1957 he won his first East German title, the coxless pairs, while in 1959-60 and 1962-67 he won the single sculls titles. In 1959 and 1960 he also took the double sculls championships. At the 1966 Worlds he came in fourth and in 1967 he was European Champion just ahead of Soviet Vyacheslav Ivanov, at the time the world’s dominant sculler.

Hill first studied airplane construction in West Berlin until the wall was raised and he then had to move to Dresden. He later married his teammate and non-Olympian Gisela Jäger. By profession he became an engineer for rail vehicles.