Cox Gunther Tiersch won the gold medal with the so-called Deutschland-Achter (German Eights) of famed rowing coach Karl Adam at the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. They also won the West German nationals in 1968. This crew was named Team of the Year in 1968 and was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf, Germany’s highest sport award. The crew then carried the Olympic Flag into the stadium at the 1972 München Olympics. Tiersch became one of the youngest German gold medal winners ever, only 14 years and 173 days old in Mexico-City. Tiersch had already won the 1967 West German nationals and the Europeans.
From 1975-82 he studied meteorology in Berlin and then worked as a freelancer for the West German TV channel ZDF. He became well-known for his weather predictions after the regular news shows “heute” and “heute journal”. In 1990 he was employed by ZDF, and beginning in 2004 headed the weather editorial team.
West Germany