Rower Franz Held from Passauer RV partnered with Günther Karl at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics in the coxless pairs, but they missed the final, ranking 12th. Held finished second at the West German nationals in 1967 and 1969 and third with the Passauer in 1968, all with the coxed eights. In 1969 he won a bronze with the eights at the Europeans. He then moved to the coxless fours, claiming two bronze medals at the 1971 Europeans and the 1972 München Summer Olympics.
Held studied sports science at the Deutsche Sporthochschule in Köln and graduated in 1993. He then moved to University of München and became Academic Director. In 2006 he moved to University Passau.
West Germany