Klaus-Michael Bonsack

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Klaus Bonsack at the start of the Spießbergbahn , on which he was GDR single-seater champion in 1969

Klaus-Michael Bonsack (born December 26, 1941 in Waltershausen ) is a former German luge rider .

Career

Bonsack's sporting career began on the Spießbergbahn in the luge stronghold of Friedrichroda, not far from his home town . At the 1968 Olympic Games in Grenoble , Bonsack , who started for the GDR , was Olympic champion in the doubles with Thomas Köhler . In 1964 he was second in the single seater at the Olympic Games in Innsbruck . At the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, he won the bronze medal in the doubles with Wolfram Fiedler . At the opening ceremony of the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo , he was the flag bearer of the GDR team.

Bonsack started for the SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal and won a total of eleven GDR championship titles. The trained locksmith (1964 active in VEB Waggonbau Gotha) studied at the engineering school in Schmalkalden. After the end of his active career, he worked in the scientific center of the sled and bobsled association of the GDR. In 1990 Bonsack took over the trainer position at the Austrian Toboggan Association and trained, among others, Doris and Angelika Neuner . He lives in Innsbruck.

Honors

He was awarded the Patriotic Order of Merit in bronze in June 1964 . In 1968 he received the Patriotic Order of Merit in silver for his Olympic victory and this medal in gold after the 1972 Winter Olympics. Bonsack has been a member of the FIL Hall of Fame since 2004 . He has been an honorary citizen of the city of Friedrichroda since 2012 .

literature

  • Volker Kluge : The great lexicon of GDR athletes. The 1000 most successful and popular athletes from the GDR, their successes and biographies. Schwarzkopf & Schwarzkopf, Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-89602-348-9 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Neues Deutschland , edition of June 17, 1964, p. 4: High honors awarded - Patriotic Order of Merit.
  2. Neues Deutschland, August 30, 1968, p. 4
  3. Berliner Zeitung , April 15, 1972, p. 4