Rowing cox Georg Spohr won consecutive gold medals at the 1976 Montréal and 1980 Moskva Olympics with the East German coxed pairs, partnering Friedrich-Wilhelm Ulrich and Harald Jährling. The same crew also won silver at the 1977 World Championships, and in both 1977 and 1979 they won the East German national title. Spohr won the coxed pairs world title in 1979 with non-Olympians Jürgen Pfeiffer and Gert Uebeler. Spohr trained as a telecommunications mechanic, but later worked with the film and photo department of his home club SC Magdeburg.