- Raimund Bethge
Raimund Bethge (born
July 7 ,1947 ) is an East Germanbobsled der who competed in the late 1970s. He won a complete set of medals at theFIBT World Championships with a gold in four-man (1977), a silver in two-man (1978, and a bronze in four-man (1978).Bethge also competed at the
1976 Winter Olympics inInnsbruck , finishing fourth in the four-man event and seventh in the two-man event.Prior to his role in
bobsleigh , Bethge was national champion in the110 meter hurdles in 1969, and finished fifth in the event at the1969 European Championships in Athletics inAthens .Bethge was forced to retire from bobsleigh in 1979 following a
bus accident. He became a trainer for the bobsleigh federation inEast Germany , then for unifiedGermany after East andWest Germany reunified in 1990. One of the athletes he trained wasWolfgang Hoppe , who would later become a coach for the German team. Another would beChristoph Langen , another successful bobsledder.Bethge was named trainer of the year in Germany in 2006 as a result of his successes that included 80 men's bobsleigh medals overall (
Winter Olympics , World championship, and European championship), 11 women's bobsleigh medals overall, and 11 skeleton medals overall. He was able to attend the2006 Winter Olympics inTurin despite breaking both of his legs after being hit by anAustralia n bobsled during a practice run atCesana Pariol on November 30, 2005.References
* [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2006/02/09/1565654.htm Australian Broadcasting Company News on Bethge]
* [http://www.dosb.de/de/ueber-uns/news/detail/news/premiere_in_weimar_raimund_bethge_ist_trainer_des_jahres/8583/nb/5/cHash/f608c432a5/ Bethge named 2006 Trainer of the Year.] de icon
* [http://sports123.com/bob/mw-2.html Bobsleigh two-man world championship medalists since 1931]
* [http://sports123.com/bob/mw-4.html Bobsleigh four-man world championship medalists since 1930]
* [http://www.bsd-portal.de/c.2170.htm BSD profile] de icon
*Wallenchinsky, David (1984). "Bobsled". In "The Complete Book of the Olympics: 1896 - 1980". New York: Penguin Books. pp. 559, 561.
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