Wolfgang HOPPE

Wolfgang Hoppe started his sports career in track & field athletics and won the GDR junior decathlon championship in 1976. He later turned his talents to bobsledding and became the world’s top driver in the 1980s. In the two-man event, Hoppe won Olympic gold in 1984 and a silver in 1988 and was three times the world champion. He was equally accomplished in the four-man event, winning an Olympic gold in 1984, a silver in 1988 and 1992, and ending his Olympic career with a four-man bronze in 1994. Hoppe won the World Championship in the four-man event in 1991 and at the European Championships he won the two-man title in 1986-87 and the four-man event in 1987. He was the first German to carry the flag at the opening ceremony for the reunified team 1992 in Albertville.