Germany at the Olympics
Germany is definitely one of the strongest countries that has ever participated in the modern Olympics since the first in 1896. As a matter of fact, with the exception of the 1952 Helsinki Summer Games where they ranked a dismal 28th, Germany has never been out of the top 10 teams in the Summer Olympics.
Germany were banned from participating in the Summer Games in 1920, 1924 and 1948 because of the World Wars and from 1956 to 1964, even though they were a divided country, both West and East Germany participated as the Unified Team of Germany (in 1952 Saarland was also included) and from 1968 to 1988, there were two German teams - East Germany and West Germany — in the Summer Olympics. When they came back as Germany in 1992, they have dominated never ranking lower than 6th place overall.
In 1936, they officially hosted the Summer Games in Berlin and they simply raked in the gold and became the top team.
As far as the Winter Games are concerned, they made their debut in 1928 and won their first Olympic medal in the Winter Games which is a bronze thanks to their five-man bobsleigh team. They also hosted the 1936 Winter Games where they won a total of 6 Olympic medals (3 gold and silver) and ranked 2nd overall. They were not present in 1948 due to the ban. When they came back in 1992, they made quite an impact by raking in 26 medals making them the top team that year. They were also the top team in Nagano, Japan (1998) and Turin, Italy (2006).
Trivia
- Germany have hosted the Olympic Games twice, in Berlin in 1936 and in Munich in 1972. Berlin was also selected to host the Games in 1916, but the event was canceled due to WW1.
- At Barcelona in 1992, Andreas Keller won a gold medal as part of the German field hockey team, and became the third generation of his family to win a medal in the event. His grandfather, Erwin, earned a silver medal in 1936 and his father, Carsten, a gold in 1972.
Related Pages
- Germany at the Winter Olympics
- List of all countries that have participated at the Olympic Games.
- Berlin Olympic Games 1936
- Munich Olympic Games 1972.
- About Sport in Germany
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