Dietmar SCHAUERHAMMER

East German bobsledder Dietmar Schauerhammer initially was active in decathlon and took part in the 1978 European Championships where he placed 14th. Domestically he was East German Indoor Champion in the pentathlon in 1976-77 and 1979-80. In the decathlon he was runner-up outdoors in 1977. Schauerhammer added further national titles in bobsleigh in 1985-86 in the two-man and in 1987-88 in the four-man. At the World Championships he won two gold (two-man 1985 and 1986), two silver (four-man 1985 and 1987) and two bronze medals (two-man 1983 and 1987), while at the European Championships he won another three golds (two-man 1986 and 1987, four-man 1987) and one silver medal (two-man 1985).

As he could not qualify for the 1980 Moscow Olympics in decathlon Schauerhammer switched to bobsledding. His best year was 1984, winning two Olympic gold medals in both bob events with pilot Wolfgang Hoppe. The four-man bob was elected 1984 team of the year in the former GDR. Four years later with Hoppe he added another silver medal in the four-man event with Bogdan Musiol and Ingo Voge.

Schauerhammer was educated as a precision mechanic but then graduated as a sports teacher. After German reunification he was offered the position as German national coach but refused and took a job in the sports article branch. In public documents discovered after the fall of the former GDR his name was also found in the list of doped athletes.