article by Nicola Pucci
It’s enough to read the palmares, however count Wolfgang Hoppe among the greatest interpreters of bobsleigh (both two-man and four-man) in history. The German, oriental from Apolda until the reunification when he brought his immense talent to Germany, has in fact enjoyed a monumental career that lasted for almost twenty years, from 1981 onwards, the year in which he abandoned athletics to move on to bobsleigh, 6 Olympic medals, 14 world championships and 8 European medals, as well as winning 5 general World Cups, two in the 2-man bobsleigh and three in the 4-man bobsleigh. But of these exploits, two more than the others elevate the Germanic to the rank of God of Olympia.
The year is 1984 and the international calendar proposes the appointment with the Sarajevo Olympics. Hoppe, born in 1957, who trains atASK Vorwärts Oberhof Clubis dominating the season that inaugurates the World Cup, and he shows up at the five-ring event with the intention of scoring a golden double succeeded in history only by Andreas Ostler (Oslo 1952), Eugenio Monti (Grenoble 1968) and Meinhard Nehmer (Innsbruck 1976) before him, by André Lange (Turin 2006) and Francesco Friedrich (even twice consecutively, Pyeongchang 2018 and Beijing 2022 ) in the following decades after him.
In Sarajevo, on 10 and 11 February, we start with the four heats of 2-man bobsleigh which will see the crews disengage along the ice passage drawn on the slopes of the mountain Trebevic. Hoppe, driving the DDR II, is paired with Dietmar Schauerhammer who plays the role of brakeman and finds in the Swiss Hans Hiltebrand, vice world champion in 1982 in Saint Moritz, paired with Meinrad Muller, and in the other Swiss Ralph Pichler, reigning world champion in Lake Placid in 1983 where Hoppe and Schauerhammer took bronze, paired with Rico Freiermuth , the most accredited opponents in the fight for the Olympic title. The DDR I bobsleigh, composed of Bernhard Lehmann and Bogdan Musiol and who won the European Championships in Sarajevo in 1983, is also aiming to get on the podiumjust as the two crews entered in the race from the USSR will have their say in the race for medals, while Guerrino Ghedina/Andrea Meneghin and Marco Bellodis/Stefano Ticci defend the colors of Italy, and finally they will obtain two honorable placings, seventh and ninth respectively .
Hoppe is already the fastest in the first descent, 51″51 ahead of 5 hundredths, 51″56, USSR II composed of Zintis Ekmanis and Vladimir Aleksandrov, with the other East German crew setting the third time, 51″59, preceding Hiltebrand, 51″73, the only other bobsledder to go under the 52″ barrier. What if in the second test URSS I, with Janis Kipurs driving and Aivars Snepsts brakingreigning European champions for the title won a few weeks earlier at Igs, albeit in the absence of Hoppe and Lehmann, scores the best time, 51″92, ahead of the two GDR crews by a whisker, 51″93 Hoppe and 51″94 LehmannSwiss and USSR II, however, did not meet expectations, reaching the finish line in a time that significantly dropped them in the rankings.
After two heats, therefore, DDR II in command, DDR I following at +0″09 and URSS II in third position at +0″22, with Hiltebrand and Pichler, as well as USSR I, who now seem irremediably out of the game, well over half a second behind. AND the third descent, dominated by Hoppe in 51″06, projects DDR II towards the gold medal, with Lehmann and URSS II, who stopped the clocks at times of 51″15 and 51″24 respectively, who will compete for the other two steps of the podium. Why then, replicating the 51″06 of the third heat, Hoppe and Schauerhammer confirmed themselves three head and shoulders above the competition, going on to win with an overall time of 3’25″56, 48 hundredths better than Lehmann and Musiol who, despite conceding 10 hundredths in the last descent, they secure silver ahead of USSR II.
A week later, 17 and 18 February, Hoppe and Lehmann, obviously accompanied by the faithful brakemen Schauerhammer and Musiol, they are ready to repeat their commitment with the 4-man bobnominally exchanging the “tools of the trade“, con Wolfgang leading DDR I and Berhnard commanding DDR II. But as they say, although the two Swiss crews of Silvio Giobellina and Ekkehard Fasser are formidable opponents, by reversing the order of the factors the product does not change, and the East Germans dominate the scene once again.
Hoppe also entrusts his chances of victory to the reliability and experience of the other two members of the quartet, Roland Wetzig and Andreas Kirchner, who can already boast some world championship metal around their necks as well as the Olympic bronze achieved four years earlier in Lake Placid, always in the 4-man bob, e if in the first run he finishes with a time, 49″65, slightly better than Lehmann’s, 49″69, in the second run he shifts into higher gear, inflicting on his compatriot a further 15 hundredths of a margin, for a ranking, in the evening, which reads: DDR I in command, DDR II delayed by +0″19, SWITZERLAND I third at +0″57with the second Swiss crew in fourth position but with very little chance of worrying Giobellina for the bronze medal.
E the last two heats only confirm the values on the ice, with DDR I still recording the best time, 50″18 and 50″21 for a total of 3’20″22, Lehmann taking on the role of the dolphin, with a delay of +0″56, and the first Swiss bobsleigh, well beyond the second, to secure bronze in a match that celebrates Hoppe’s double but also salutes the record of the 54-year-old Swede Carl-Erik Eriksson, in his sixth and final participation in the Winter Olympics (without medals, however, but with a sixth place in the 2-man bobsled at Sapporo 1972 as the best result), a record that will be equaled by the Italian Gerda Weissensteiner who between 1988 and 2006 will compete with luge (gold in Lillehammer in 1994) and two-man bobsleigh (bronze in Turin 2006).
Marginal details, Wolfgang Hoppe is just at the beginning of his career as a world-class bobsledder, but at Sarajevo 1984 he has already guaranteed himself a place among the Gods of Olympia.