Andreas Kirchner

At the GDR championships in 1979, Andreas Kirchner pushed Horst Schönau's bobsleigh.

Andreas Kirchner (born August 17, 1953 in Erlbach-Kirchberg ; † November 10, 2010 in Suhl ) was a German bobsledder who won the gold medal at the 1984 Olympic Games in the GDR's four-man bobsleigh (together with helmsman Wolfgang Hoppe and Roland Wetzig and Dietmar Schauerhammer ). For this, the bobsleigh crew was voted GDR Sportsman of the Year in 1984. In addition, the athletes received the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold.

Life

Andreas Kirchner began his athletic career in athletics as a hammer thrower (personal best: 65.22 m on June 19, 1975 in Karl-Marx-Stadt ). In 1977 he switched to bobsleigh. In 1979 he was GDR champion in the two-man bobsleigh and third in the European championship in the four-man bobsleigh (each with helmsman Horst Schönau ). In 1980 he was part of the crew of the GDR four-man bobsleigh, which won the bronze medal at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid .

After winning medals at the world and European championships in 1981 and 1982 (1981: European championship second in four-man bobsleigh, world championship second in two-man bobsleigh; 1982: two-man bobsleigh, world championship third and European championship second), the crew of Horst Schönau's bobsleigh failed to qualify for the 1984 Olympic Games . Andreas Kirchner was then used on the four-man bobsleigh by Wolfgang Hoppe. After the Olympic victory he rode on this until 1986, but without winning another medal at international highlights.

Andreas Kirchner started for the army sports club ASK Vorwärts Oberhof ; his trainers were Erich Enders and Raimund Bethge . He was an officer in the NVA and is a graduate of the DHfK sports university . After his sporting career, he completed additional studies in Jena and then worked as a teacher for sport and English in Suhl. A protracted illness resulted in the retirement from school service in the 2000s. He was buried in Suhl on May 14, 2011.

literature

• Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes, medals and biographies. 2nd updated edition. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2004, ISBN 3-89602-538-4 , p. 82.
• Klaus Amrhein: Biographical Handbook on the History of German Athletics , 2005, Darmstadt, p. 573

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Free word: Bobsleigh Olympic champion Andreas Kirchner buried in Suhl , May 14, 2011, 6:56 p.m.
2. ↑ MDR Sport Short News: Bobsleigh athlete Andreas Kirchner buried , May 14, 2011, 8:05 p.m. ( Memento from February 18, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
3. ↑ Neues Deutschland , April 27, 1984, p. 3
4. ↑ Free word: Bobsleigh Olympic champion Andreas Kirchner died , November 20, 2010, 8:02 am

Web links

• Andreas Kirchner in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )