Meinrad Miltenberger

Meinrad “Auto” Miltenberger started his sports career as a track and field athlete, before turning to flatwater canoeing in 1941. During World War II he was wounded in Italy and held captive until the end of the war. He then won his first West German Canoeing Championship in 1952, followed this with further titles 1954-57, and also won four silver medals. His first success on the international scene was at the 1954 World Championships, where he won the K2 500 metres gold medal with Ernst Steinhauer, and also the silver in the K1 500 metres.

At the 1952 Helsinki Olympics Miltenberger had finished fifth in the K1 over 1,000 metres and sixth in the K2 over 10,000 metres with Karl Heinz Schäfer. His finest moment was to come in the 1956 at the Melbourne Olympics when, with Michel Scheuer, he won the first German gold medal after World War II in the K2 over 1,000 metres. For his sporting performances he was awarded the Silver Bay Leaf and the Bundesverdienstkreuz (Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany).

In 1957, Miltenberger won the silver medal in the K2 with Gustav Schmidt at the European Championships, and at the 1958 World Championships he won a gold in the kayak relay and a bronze the K2 over 500 metres with Paul Lange. In 1959 he was a member of the kayak relay team that won the European Championships. After his racing days, Miltenberger became national coach of the Federal Republic of Germany from 1959-69, and then Regional Coach in Berlin until 1987. He was a trained electrician but never worked in the profession. Miltenberger was married twice; his second wife was non-Olympian canoeist Ruth Rohrbach.