Diane Rowe

Diane Schöler (née Rowe; 14 April 1933 – 19 June 2023) was an English table tennis player. In 1966 she married German table tennis player Eberhard Schöler, and from that time on competed for West Germany.^[1] From 1951 to 1972 she won several medals in single, double, and team events in the Table Tennis European Championships, and in the World Table Tennis Championships.^[2]

Diane Rowe
Rowe in 1962
Personal information
Full name	Diane Schöler-Rowe
Nationality	English, West German
Born	14 April 1933 (1933-04-14) Marylebone, London, England
Died	19 June 2023 (2023-06-20) (aged 90) Düsseldorf, Germany
Medal record Table tennis Representing  West Germany World Championships 1971 Nagoya Mixed doubles European Championships 1972 Rotterdam Team 1970 Moscow Doubles Representing  England World Championships 1965 Ljubljana Team 1963 Prague Doubles 1959 Dortmund Doubles 1957 Stockholm Doubles 1956 Tokyo Doubles 1956 Tokyo Team 1955 Utrecht Doubles 1955 Utrecht Team 1954 Wembley Doubles 1954 Wembley Team 1953 Bucharest Singles 1953 Bucharest Doubles 1953 Bucharest Team 1952 Bombay Doubles 1952 Bombay Mixed doubles 1952 Bombay Team 1951 Vienna Doubles 1951 Vienna Mixed doubles 1951 Vienna Team European Championships 1966 London Doubles 1964 Malmo Doubles 1964 Malmo Team 1962 Berlin Singles 1962 Berlin Doubles 1962 Berlin Mixed doubles 1962 Berlin Team 1960 Zagreb Singles 1960 Zagreb Doubles 1960 Zagreb Team 1958 Budapest Doubles 1958 Budapest Team

Rowe started training in table tennis aged 14, under Viktor Barna. She was left-handed and until 1951 played a defensive style, but later put more accent on attacking. In early 1966, she married Eberhard Schöler and moved to Düsseldorf, where she gave birth to a daughter. She retired from competitions in 1973 and until 1997 worked as a table tennis coach. In 1993 she received the ITTF Merit Award,^[3] and in 2001 the Dieter Mauritz Gedächtnispreis.^[4]

Rowe also won 17 English Open titles.

Diane Rowe had a twin sister, Rosalind Rowe, who was also an international table tennis player. They often played doubles together.^[5] In 1955 they published a book The twins on table tennis.^[6] Their father was the amateur footballer Vivian Rowe, and their uncle was footballer Ronald Rowe.^[7]

Rowe died of cancer in Düsseldorf on 19 June 2023, at the age of 90.^[8][9][10]

See also

• List of table tennis players
• List of World Table Tennis Championships medalists
• List of England players at the World Team Table Tennis Championships

References

1. Zeitschrift DTS, 1966/20, pp. 6–7
2. SCHOLER-ROWE Diane (FRG). ittf.com
3. Zeitschrift DTS, 1993/6, p. 10
4. Zeitschrift DTS, 2001/7, p. 27
5. Happy birthday Diane and Rosalind, national heroines Archived 2014-07-18 at the Wayback Machine. ettu.org. 15 April 2013.
6. Diane Rowe and Rosalind Rowe (1955). 'The twins' on table tennis.
7. Haynes, Graham; Coumbe, Frank (2006). Timeless Bees: Brentford F.C. Who's Who 1920-2006. Harefield: Yore Publications. p. 138. ISBN 978-0955294914.
8. Tischtennis-Legende Diane Schöler mit 90 Jahren gestorben (in German)
9. "Diane Rowe obituary". The Times. 18 July 2023. Retrieved 18 July 2023.
10. "Diane Rowe obituary". Table Tennis England. 20 June 2023. Retrieved 4 April 2024.