Ronald Rauhe

Medal record
Rauhe in 2007
Men's canoe sprint
Olympic Games
Gold	2004 Athens	K-2 500 m
Silver	2008 Beijing	K-2 500 m
Bronze	2000 Sydney	K-2 500 m
World Championships
Gold	2001 Poznań	K-1 200 m
Gold	2001 Poznań	K-2 500 m
Gold	2002 Seville	K-1 200 m
Gold	2002 Seville	K-2 500 m
Gold	2003 Gainesville	K-1 200 m
Gold	2003 Gainesville	K-2 500 m
Gold	2005 Zagreb	K-2 500 m
Gold	2006 Szeged	K-1 200 m
Gold	2006 Szeged	K-2 200 m
Gold	2006 Szeged	K-2 500 m
Gold	2007 Duisburg	K-2 500 m
Gold	2009 Dartmouth	K-1 200 m
Gold	2009 Dartmouth	K-1 500 m
Silver	2001 Poznań	K-2 200 m
Silver	2007 Duisburg	K-2 200 m
Silver	2009 Dartmouth	K-1 4 x 200 m
Silver	2010 Poznań	K-1 200 m
Bronze	1999 Milan	K-1 200 m
Bronze	2002 Seville	K-2 200 m
Bronze	2003 Gainesville	K-2 200 m
Bronze	2011 Szeged	K-1 200 m

Ronald Rauhe (born October 3, 1981 in Berlin) is a German sprint canoer who has competed since 1997. Competing in three 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 13 world championship gold medals (21 overall) in the men's kayak discipline, the most among all kayakers, breaking the tie he shared with Torsten Gutsche in 2010.

Early Sports 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 more three 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 Sports Career

Still aged only fifteen, 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 every year (six world titles and the 2004 Olympic gold). The pair have also won seven straight European championships over 500 m.

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

References

• Canoe09.ca profile
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 1: flatwater (now sprint): 1936-2007.
• ICF medalists for Olympic and World Championships - Part 2: rest of flatwater (now sprint) and remaining canoeing disciplines: 1936-2007.
• Official website (German)
• Sports-reference.com profile