East German flatwater canoeist Eckhard Leue won a bronze medal in Canadian singles over 1,000 metres at the 1980 Moskva Summer Olympics. He also won several national titles and made multiple international podiums.
Leue came from a canoeing family, since his father Rolf and his mother Siegrid were also race canoeists, and his grandfather Fritz Schnabel was German Champion in 1932. His daughters, Friederike and Romy, and his son, Erik, also became internationally successful canoeists. His daughter, Romy, was the girlfriend of Olympic champion Sebastian Brendel and mother of their children. Eckhard Leue later became chief coach at the Olympic Regional Center in Magdeburg.
East Germany