Dettlef Günther

Dettlef Günther
nation	German Democratic Republic
birthday	August 27, 1954
place of birth	Steinheidel-Erlabrunn
size	181 cm
Weight	90 kg
job	Electrician, qualified sports teacher
Career
discipline	Single seater
society	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal
Trainer	Erhard Klotzsche; Eberhard Illing
status	resigned
End of career	1980
Medal table
Olympic medals 1 × 0 × 0 × World Cup medals 1 × 0 × 0 × EM medals 1 × 1 × 0 × GDR championship 0 × 3 × 1 ×
winter Olympics gold 1976 Innsbruck Single seater  Luge World Championships gold 1979 Königssee Single seater  European Luge Championships gold 1975 Olang Single seater silver 1979 Oberhof Single seater GDR Luge Championships bronze 1975 Oberhof Single seater silver 1976 Oberhof Single seater silver 1977 Oberwiesenthal Single seater silver 1978 Oberhof Single seater
last change: November 20, 2012

Dettlef Günther (born August 27, 1954 in Steinheidel-Erlabrunn ) is a former German luge rider who competed for the GDR .

Like Ortrun Enderlein , Günther, who comes from the Erzgebirge community of Raschau , began his sports career in the soccer section of BSG Rotation Raschau . He came into contact with sled racing with trainer Heinz Dittmann, but only became a top tobogganist under trainer Erhard Klotzsche at SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal . In 1973 he won the title at the European Junior Championships on the natural toboggan run in Olang . Two years later he won the title at the European Luge Championships in 1975 in the same place . He celebrated his greatest success at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck , when he was Olympic champion in single-seater with more than half a second ahead of Josef Fendt . For this success he was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver. He also won the title at the Luge World Championships in 1979 at Königssee . At the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid , he could not live up to his role as favorite when he fell while in the lead in the third run; but still finished fourth overall.

Günther completed an apprenticeship as an electrician and a distance learning course to become a qualified sports teacher at the German University of Physical Culture . After his active career as a tobogganist, he worked as a trainer at SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal.

Due to an incorrect entry in his birth certificate, Günther's first name is spelled with two "t".

As an " IM judge" he worked for the Ministry for State Security of the GDR. As of November 1976, he has received multiple monetary awards for his services.

successes

World Cup victories

Single seater

No.	date	place	train
1.	0Jan. 5, 1978	Hammar Beach	Hammarstrand bobsleigh run

literature

• Günther, Dettlef. In: Günter Weigel: A small chronicle of great athletes - Erzgebirge we are proud of. Rockstroh, Aue, 2004, p. 73.
• Short biography for:  Günther, Dettlef . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 1. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .

Web links

Commons : Dettlef Günther  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Dettlef Günther in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Günther, Dettlef. In: Günter Weigel: A small chronicle of great athletes - Erzgebirge we are proud of. Rockstroh, Aue, 2004, p. 73.
2. ↑ ^{a b} ND v. January 22, 1975, p. 5.
3. ↑ Berliner Zeitung . March 25, 1976, p. 4
4. ↑ "That was secret back then and it should remain secret today" . www.dradio.de. Retrieved March 19, 2010.