Career
His career is known for the rivalry with Pertti Karppinen that stretched for 14 years. He went into the 1976 Olympics as the favorite. On the day of the Olympic finals, the wind was fierce and the course difficult.
Kolbe led the entire race only to be passed in the closing moments by Karppinen who had trailed badly during the early portions of the race.
Kolbe"s reward was a silver medal. Germany boycotted the 1980 Summer Olympics to protest the Soviet Union"s invasion of Afghanistan.
Kolbe left the single scull and rowed in the German national eight (8+), which raced in several European events. At the 1984 Olympics, Kolbe faced his rival Karppinen once again.
Kolbe fought for and got the lead early in the race.
He slowly began pulling away from the other rowers. Karppinen languished far back. Over the last thousand meters of the race, Kolbe continued to pull away from the pack, but Karppinen was inching his way back into the race.
In both the 1976 and 1984 Olympics, Karppinen and Kolbe separated themselves from the pack turning a multi-boat race into a two boat match.
They were the two best scullers in the world. They raced each other many other times and their races were well rowed and hard fought.
Unlike the Olympics, Kolbe, more often than not, beat his rival at the World Championships. At the 1988 Olympics, Kolbe finally beat Karppinen at the Olympics, but there was a new sculling sensation.
Kolbe was consistently fast.
In all Kolbe"s Olympic and World Championship races, only Karppinen, Lange and Andrew Sudduth were ever able to beat Kolbe in a regularly rigged boat. He later returned to Germany and in 1994 became director of the German Rowing Federation.
