Ronald Rauhe

Ronald Rauhe (born 3 October 1981) is a German sprint canoeist who has competed since 1997. Competing in six Summer Olympics, he won a complete set of medals in the K-2 500 m event (gold: 2004, silver: 2008, bronze: 2000). Rauhe has won 16 world championship gold medals, the most by a male kayaker; now with 26 World medals, in 2011 he exceeded the 20 of his compatriot, Torsten Gutsche.

Ronald Rauhe

Personal information
Nationality	German
Born	(1981-10-03) 3 October 1981 West Berlin, West Germany
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	82 kg (181 lb)
Sport
Country	Germany
Sport	Sprint kayak
Event(s)	K-1 200 m, K-1 500 m, K-2 500 m, K-4 500 m
Club	KC Potsdam
Medal record Men's canoe sprint Representing Germany Olympic Games 2004 Athens K-2 500 m 2020 Tokyo K-4 500 m 2008 Beijing K-2 500 m 2000 Sydney K-2 500 m 2016 Rio de Janeiro K-1 200 m World Championships 2001 Poznań K-1 200 m 2001 Poznań K-2 500 m 2002 Seville K-1 200 m 2002 Seville K-2 500 m 2003 Gainesville K-1 200 m 2003 Gainesville K-2 500 m 2005 Zagreb K-2 500 m 2006 Szeged K-1 200 m 2006 Szeged K-2 200 m 2006 Szeged K-2 500 m 2007 Duisburg K-2 500 m 2009 Dartmouth K-1 200 m 2009 Dartmouth K-1 500 m 2017 Račice K-4 500 m 2018 Montemor-o-Velho K-4 500 m 2019 Szeged K-4 500 m 2001 Poznań K-2 200 m 2007 Duisburg K-2 200 m 2009 Dartmouth K-1 4 x 200 m 2010 Poznań K-1 200 m 2014 Moscow K-2 200 m 1999 Milan K-1 200 m 2002 Seville K-2 200 m 2003 Gainesville K-2 200 m 2011 Szeged K-1 200 m 2013 Duisburg K–2 200 m European Games 2019 Minsk K-4 500 m European Championships 2000 Poznań K-2 500 m 2001 Milan K-1 200 m 2001 Milan K-2 200 m 2001 Milan K-2 500 m 2002 Szeged K-1 200 m 2002 Szeged K-2 500 m 2004 Poznań K-1 200 m 2004 Poznań K-2 500 m 2005 Poznań K-2 500 m 2006 Račice K-1 200 m 2006 Račice K-2 200 m 2006 Račice K-2 500 m 2007 Pontevedra K-2 500 m 2008 Milan K-2 500 m 2014 Brandenburg K-2 200 m 2015 Račice K-2 200 m 2021 Poznań K-4 500 m 2002 Szeged K-2 200 m 2005 Poznań K-2 200 m 2007 Pontevedra K-2 200 m 2009 Brandenburg K-1 500 m 2009 Brandenburg K-1 4×200 m 2010 Trasona K-1 200 m 2012 Zagreb K-2 200 m 2013 Montemor-o-Velho K-2 200 m 2018 Belgrade K-4 500 m 2016 Moscow K-2 200 m 2017 Plovdiv K-2 200 m

Early career

Rauhe was selected for the 1997 World Junior Championships in Lahti, Finland at the age of just fifteen years nine months. Competing against paddlers up to three years older he won two medals – gold in the K-4 500 m and silver in the K-1 500 m, an unprecedented achievement for a fifteen-year-old. After winning three more gold medals at the next edition of the world junior championships in Zagreb, Croatia, in 1999 he stepped up to the senior German national team.

Senior career

At the age of seventeen, he enjoyed immediate success, taking the bronze medal in the men's K-1 200 m World Championship final the same year.

Since 2000, the Rauhe/Wieskötter partnership has enjoyed unrivalled success, winning the major K-2 500 m race from 2001 to 2007 (six world titles and the 2004 Olympic gold). The pair have also won eight straight European championships over 500 m (2000–2008; there was no championship in 2003).

Rauhe also dominated the K-1 200 m individual sprint, winning three consecutive golds in both the world and European championships before losing out to Spain's Carlos Pérez in 2005.

If Rauhe's rivals hoped this marked the beginning of a decline in the German's fortunes they were to be disappointed. In 2006 Rauhe was back on top form and won more titles than ever before. At the European Championships in Račice, Czech Republic he won three gold medals, retaining his K-2 500 m title, regaining the K-1 200 m crown from Pérez and winning the K-2 200 m for the first time in his career.

These three victories were repeated at the World Championships in Szeged, Hungary. Rauhe's dominance was best illustrated by his victory in the K-2 200 m final in a race that was scheduled just twenty minutes after his K-1 final (and against a field of rested opponents none of whom had competed in the earlier race).

At the World Championships in his home country Germany in 2007, he and his partner Tim Wieskötter won again the K-2 500 m and came second in the K-2 200 m.

On the national level, he has won 50 national titles at the German Championships. His 50th title was the 500 m in the K-1 on 2 May 2009 in Duisburg.

In June 2015, he competed in the inaugural European Games, for Germany in canoe sprint, more specifically, Men's K-2 200m with Tom Liebscher. He earned a silver medal.

At the 2016 Summer Olympics, he won the bronze medal in the K-1 200 metres event, recording the same time (to a thousandth of a second) as Saúl Craviotto – wiping out the memory of his greatest competitive disappointment, finishing last in the final heat of this event four years previously at the London Olympics.

References

• Ronald Rauhe at Canoe09.ca at the Wayback Machine (archived August 17, 2009)
• "ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936–2007" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 January 2010. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
• "ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships – Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936–2007" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 November 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2019.

External links

• Official website (in German)
• Ronald Rauhe at the International Canoe Federation
• Ronald Rauhe at Olympics.com
• Ronald Rauhe at Team Deutschland (in German)
• Ronald Rauhe at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)