Jörg Friedrich rowed on the gold medal-winning East German eights at the 1980 Moskva Olympics. The previous year he was a world champion, also with the eights. In 1981 he added another world title, but with the coxed fours. In the next two years he added two silver medals, in the eights (1982) and coxed fours (1983). Due to the Soviet-led boycott of the 1984 Los Angeles Games Friedrich could not defend his Olympic title.
Friedrich trained as a carpenter but was employed by Deutsche Volkspolizei at Potsdam. After re-unification he worked as a carpenter again.
East Germany