Herbert Wiedermann

Herbert Wiedermann grew up in Kahlenbergerdorf in northern Wien (Vienna), on the banks of the Danube. His father was a river barge driver, and he took to water sports at a young age, joining the youth section of the Wiener Kajakklub (WKK) in 1941. He competed in multiple youth championship events in the early 1940s before his career was interrupted when was drafted into the German Navy during World War II.

In 1950, Wiedermann won two bronze medals at the World Championships, in the K2 500 metres (with Max Raub), and in the 1950 K1 4×500 metres (with Herbert Klepp, Raub, and the non-Olympian Günther Rührnschopf). Two years later, Wiedermann was selected to compete at the Helsinki Olympic Games, and captured the bronze in the 1,000 metres alongside his longtime partner, Raub.

In 1953, he won a medal at the Western European Championships, and in 1954, Wiedermann and Raub won gold at the World Championships in Mâcon, France in the K2 10,000 metres. He also added another bronze medal there, in the K1 4×500 metres (alongside Raub, Alfred Schmidtberger, and Hermann Salzner). After medalling once again at the Western European Championships in 1955, Wiedermann and Raub won another bronze medal in the K2 1,000 metres at the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956.

At the time of his retirement from the sport in 1960, Wiedermann had won 36 national championship titles and was one of Austria’s most successful kayaking athletes. He married his teammate Helga Hellebrand-Wiedermann and later worked in education and was promoted to the ministerial council (Ministerialrat). Wiedermann was awarded the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (gold medal class) in 1980, and retired from his professional career in 1989.