Rowers Jürgen Bertow and Uli Schmied won the bronze medal at the 1976 Montréal Summer Games with the East German double sculls. In 1974, Bertow won the World Championships with the quadruple sculls, and in 1975 he added a silver in the double sculls, partnering with Joachim Dreifke.
Domestically, Bertow won the national quadruple sculls title in 1973 and 1974, and the double sculls title in 1972 (with non-Olympian Christof Kreuziger), 1975 (with Dreifke) and 1978 (with non-Olympian Olaf Moll). Bertow studied constructional engineering, and started his own company in the 1980s.