Olympic Winter Games 1972 / Participant (GDR)

GDR

4th	3	7th

The GDR took part in the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, Japan with a delegation of 42 athletes, 29 men and 13 women.

After 1968 it was the GDR's second participation in the Winter Olympics .

Flag bearer

Luge driver Klaus-Michael Bonsack carried the flag of the GDR , which started under its own flag for the first time, during the opening ceremony in the Makomanai stadium .

Medals

With four won gold, three silver and seven bronze medals, the team of the GDR took 2nd place in the medals table .

gold

• Wolfgang Scheidel : Tobogganing, gentlemen, single-seaters
• Horst Hörnlein and Reinhard Bredow : tobogganing, gentlemen, two-seaters
• Anna-Maria Müller : tobogganing, women, single-seaters
• Ulrich Wehling : Nordic skiing, Nordic combined

silver

• Hansjörg Knauthe : Biathlon, men, 20 km
• Harald Ehrig : Tobogganing, gentlemen, single-seaters
• Ute Rührold : tobogganing, women, single-seaters

bronze

• Hansjörg Knauthe , Joachim Meischner , Dieter Speer and Horst Koschka : Biathlon, men, 4 × 7.5 km relay
• Manuela Groß and Uwe Kagelmann : figure skating, pair skating
• Wolfram Fiedler : Tobogganing, men, single-seaters
• Klaus-Michael Bonsack and Wolfram Fiedler : tobogganing, men, two-seaters
• Margit Schumann : tobogganing, women, single-seaters
• Karl-Heinz Luck : Nordic skiing, Nordic combined
• Rainer Schmidt : Nordic skiing, ski jumping, large hill

Participants by sport

On Hockey competition at the bobsled races and in the alpine ski disciplines no East German athletes participated.

biathlon

With Hansjörg Knauthe, the biathletes provided one of the most successful GDR representatives. The good placements in the individual decision were reflected in relay bronze.

Men's:

• Hansjörg Knauthe (SG Dynamo Zinnwald)

  Single (20 km):

  Relay (4 × 7.5 km):

• Dieter Speer (SG Dynamo Zinnwald)

  Individual (20 km): 13th place

  Relay (4 × 7.5 km):

• Günter Bartnik (SG Dynamo Zinnwald)

  Individual (20 km): 15th place

• Horst Koschka (SG Dynamo Zinnwald)

  Individual (20 km): 20th place

  Relay (4 × 7.5 km):

• Joachim Meischner (SG Dynamo Zinnwald)

  Relay (4 × 7.5 km):

figure skating

The figure skaters won a medal in pair skating. The very young athletes, the oldest participants were 21 years old, were able to place in all competitions among the top eight.

Women: Christine Errath (SC Dynamo Berlin) 8th place Sonja Morgenstern (SC Karl-Marx-Stadt) 4th Place

Men Jan Hoffmann (SC Karl-Marx-Stadt) 6th place

Couples: Manuela Groß / Uwe Kagelmann (SC Dynamo Berlin) Pair skating: Annette Kansy / Axel Salzmann (SC Karl-Marx-Stadt) Pair skating: 8th place

Speed ​​skating

Only two women competed in speed skating, men did not start. Rosemarie Taupadel was able to achieve a remarkable 5th place over 1500 m.

Women:

• Ruth Budzisch (SC Dynamo Berlin)

  500 m: 13th place

  1000 m: 33rd place

• Rosemarie Taupadel (SC Dynamo Berlin)

  1000 m: 12th place

  1500 m: 5th place

  3000 m: 15th place

Sledding

The luge competitions became GDR championships with international participation. Only one medal was given to the competition, the Italian two-seater Paul Hildgartner / Walter Plaikner became Olympic champions at the same time as Hörnlein / Bredow.

Women: Anna-Maria Müller (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal) Ute Rührold (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal) Margit Schumann (ASK Vorwärts Oberhof)

Men's: Wolfgang Scheidel (ASK Vorwärts Oberhof) Harald Ehrig (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal) Wolfram Fiedler (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal) Klaus-Michael Bonsack (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal) 4th Place

Two-seater Horst Hörnlein / Reinhard Bredow (ASK Vorwärts Oberhof) Klaus-Michael Bonsack / Wolfram Fiedler (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal)

Nordic skiing

Cross-country skiing

Renate Fischer achieved a single-digit placement among women cross-country skiers. In the season, Anni Unger lost the fight for fourth place in the sprint to the finish against Michaela Endler from Germany.
In the men's category, Gert-Dietmar Klause in particular attracted attention with two single-digit placements. The season, which had won silver at the 1970 World Cup with the same line-up, ended up in 6th place.

Women: Renate Fischer (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal) 3 × 5 km relay: 5th place 5 km: 14th place 10 km: 9th place Gabriele Haupt (SC Dynamo Klingenthal) 3 × 5 km relay: 5th place 5 km: 20th place 10 km: 18th place Anna Unger (SC Dynamo Klingenthal) 3 × 5 km relay: 5th place 5 km: 28th place 10 km: 20th place Christine Philipp (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal) 5 km: 30th place 10 km: 31st place

Men's: Gert-Dietmar Klause (SC Dynamo Klingenthal) 15 km: 13th place 30 km: 8th place 50 km: 9th place 4 × 10 km relay: 6th place Gerhard Grimmer (ASK Vorwärts Oberhof) 4 × 10 km relay: 6th place Eberhard Klessen (ASK Vorwärts Oberhof) 30 km: 27th place 50 km: 16th place Gerd Heßler (SC Dynamo Klingenthal) 15 km: 25th place 30 km: 18th place 4 × 10 km relay: 6th place Axel Lesser (ASK Vorwärts Oberhof) 15 km: 6th place 30 km: 12th place 4 × 10 km relay: 6th place Rainer Groß (SC Dynamo Klingenthal) 15 km: 26th place 50 km: 18th place

Ski jumping

The GDR representatives had nothing to order on the small hill. In a competition on the large hill, which was very much influenced by the external conditions, Rainer Schmidt was able to advance from eighth place to bronze place, only 0.5 points behind Walter Steiner, who placed second, and 0.6 points behind Olympic champion Wojciech Fortuna , but also only 0 , 1 point ahead of the fourth Tauno Käyhkö . Manfred Wolf, who was still third after the first round, fell back to fifth.

• Hans-Georg Aschenbach (ASK Forward Brotterode)

  Normal hill: 31st place

• Rainer Schmidt (SC Motor Zella-Mehlis)

  Normal hill: 15th place

  Large hill:

• Manfred Wolf (ASK Forward Brotterode)

  Normal hill: 38th place

  Large hill: 5th place

• Henry Glaß (SC Dynamo Klingenthal)

  Normal hill: 18th place

  Large hill: 20th place

• Heinz Wosipiwo (SC Dynamo Klingenthal)

  Large hill: 39th place

Nordic combination

Ulrich Wehling was the name of the surprise winner from Sapporo. The hitherto unknown young athlete was fourth after jumping. With the third fastest run time, he took almost two minutes from the Finn Rauno Miettinen, who had been second up until then , and won gold. Karl-Heinz Luck with the fastest running time from 17th place improved almost sensationally to bronze after jumping.

• Ulrich Wehling (SC Traktor Oberwiesenthal)

  Individual (normal hill 70 m / 15 km):

• Karl-Heinz Luck (SC Motor Zella-Mehlis)

  Individual (normal hill 70 m / 15 km):

• Hans Hartleb (SC Motor Zella-Mehlis)

  Individual (normal hill 70 m / 15 km): 18th place

• Günter Deckert (SC Dynamo Klingenthal)

  Individual (normal hill 70 m / 15 km): 9th place

statistics

Medals by sports

Medal table (based on the decisions)
space	team	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	Luge	3	2	3	8th
2	Nordic combination	1	0	1	2
3	biathlon	0	1	1	2
4th	Ski jumping	0	0	1	1
	figure skating	0	0	1	1

Medals according to sports clubs

Medal table (based on the individual athletes)
space	team	gold	silver	bronze	total
1	ASK Oberhof	3	0	1	4th
2	SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	2	3	3	8th
3	SG Dynamo Zinnwald	0	1	4th	5
4th	SC Dynamo Berlin	0	0	2	2
	SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	0	0	2	2

Participants by sports clubs

team	Men	Women	total
SC Dynamo Klingenthal	6th	2	8th
SC tractor Oberwiesenthal	4th	4th	8th
ASK Oberhof	6th	1	7th
SC Dynamo Berlin	1	4th	5
SG Dynamo Zinnwald	5	0	5
SC Karl-Marx-Stadt	2	2	4th
SC Motor Zella-Mehlis	3	0	3
ASK forward Brotterode	2	0	2
total	29	13	42

swell

• Presentation of the nominated athletes in the BZ on January 19, 1972 p. 8

Web link

• Olympic team of the GDR 1972 in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )