HQ snaps up Olympic rowing coach Gröbler's biography

HQ has acquired the first biography of Olympic rowing coach Jürgen Gröbler, who has been “instrumental” in the careers of Olympians Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell.

Gröbler trained the British men’s rowing squad going into the Rio Olympics with 14 competitors, 12 of whom won golds, and has coached five successive British rowers to gold medals.

Entitled More Power, the book is written by Olympic medallist, Hugh Matheson, and rowing historian, Christopher Dodd, who have known Gröbler for decades. It tells Gröbler’s story, whose career has included training winning Olympic rowing crews in both Germany and the UK.

HQ sales and marketing director Nick Bates and HQ editorial director Lucy Gilmour acquired world rights from Charlie Campbell at Kingsford Campbell.

Bates said: “More Power is as important a commentary on the changes within culture and sport over the last 50 years as it is a compelling narrative of one of the great names in sport coaching history. From his time in Germany to his arrival in Britain turning British Rowing into our most successful Olympic sport – one name underpins the success of countless rowers and competitive successes and that is Jürgen Gröbler. Hugh and Chris’s backgrounds place them in a unique position to bring Grobler’s extraordinary story to life. More Power is instantly essential reading for anyone with an interest in rowing, sporting achievements, or those fascinated by the pursuit of greatness in any field.”

Writers Matheson and Dodd said in a statement: “Jürgen Gröbler, whose career began in the German Democratic Republic and continued in Britain after the unification of the two Germanys, has an unparalleled record of sporting success that ranks him alongside serial winners such as Sir Alex Ferguson and Dave Brailsford. And yet we know very little about the man whose maxim ‘More Power’ forms the title for this book.  With seemingly no extraordinary stylistic or technological genius to make his boats move faster, Gröbler’s success is an incredible feat of will power and determination rolled into meticulous preparation.”

HQ, an imprint of HarperCollins, will publish More Power in hardback, e-book and audio book on the 15th June 2017, priced at £18.99.