Manfred SCHNELLDORFER

Manfred Schnelldorfer from München was trained by his parents, both skating coaches. In 1958 he was third at the Roller Skating World Championships, and he repeated that finish in 1963 in figure skating. At the Olympic Games he was eighth in 1960 and surprisingly won the gold medal in 1964, beating out the favorite Alain Calmat of France, making Schnelldorfer the first German since 1906, and the only male German, as of 2017, to win Olympic figure skating gold. Schnelldorfer won his first German Championship, an age-group title, when he was only eight-years-old. He collected eight domestic titles (1956-61, 1963-64), and in 1963 and 1964 was runner-up at the European Championships, placing third in 1960-62.

Besides his sport career he studied architecture for four years, but could not finish his studies. From 1974-81 he was the first national figure skating coach in Germany, before he had moderate success as a pop singer and film actor. Until 1995 he also managed a sports shop in his hometown of München.