Rower Hartmut Wenzel won the bronze medal with the West German coxed fours at the 1976 Montréal Olympics. He was born in Berlin and started his rowing career in East Germany as a cox. In 1966, he won his first GDR national title with the coxed fours. The crew then won the bronze medal at the World Championships that same year. Wenzel was also a crew member of the silver-medal-winning coxed fours at the 1969 Europeans.
In 1971, Wenzel fled to the West after illegally leaving the former GDR team during an international regatta in Milano, Italy. The same year he won his first West German title, with the coxed fours, followed by another with the coxed eights in 1973. In 1974, he won the coxed fours title again, and then collected a bronze medal at the 1975 World Championships. In 1977, he won a bronze medal with the eights at the Worlds, and in 1978, a silver medal.
West Germany