Herbert Schmidt was a member of the German bronze medal-winning coxed eights at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. The three leading boats, USA, Italy and Germany crossed the line virtually together with just one second separating first from third but victory went to the USA, with Italy second. The Nazi leaders were not amused and left immediately. The same year the boat from RG Wiking Berlin won the German Championships and Schmidt was also runner-up with Gerhard Völs, Hans-Joachim Hannemann and Werner Loeckle in the coxless fours. The next year they finished third. In 1942, Schmidt won the German coxless fours title and in 1943 the coxed eights title.
Herbert Schmidt then became chief editor at the East Berlin sports newspaper Deutsches Sportecho in 1948, but was fired only a few months later. He then built up the sports desk of Sender Freies Berlin in West-Berlin.
Germany