International canoe slalom community mourns the death of Jürg Götz (1959 – 2024), former canoe slalom athlete, coach and performance director. In his post athlete career he helped athletes on their road to winning Olympic medals and medals at other major international competitions through six Olympic cycles.
Born in 1959 in Switzerland, Jürg Götz competed in canoe slalom from the mid 1970s to mid 1980s and recorded his biggest success as an athlete at the 1981 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in Bala, Great Britain, where he celebrated silver medal in men’s K1 team event alongside Urs Steinmann and Milo Duffek. Only the Britons Richard Fox, Albert Kerr and Nicolas Wain produced a better run on their home course.
Following his career as an athlete he continued his work first as assistant coach in Swiss national canoe slalom team (1986 – 1987), then as head coach (1987 – 1993), to then advance to the position of the performance director. After 14 years spent at Swiss Canoeing, he then took on another challenge at the British Canoeing where he co-created numerous successes of British paddlers at Olympic Games, World and European Championships. He served as the technical coach (Olympic Podium) for four years, and then took the position of the head coach which he held for eight years.
He was not only involved with Swiss and British Canoeing, he also cooperated with British Triathlon, British Swimming, UK Sport Institute, British Rowing and Sport Wales.
We would like to express sincere condolences to his family and friends. Jürg, rest in peace.
29.10.2024
