Germany at the Winter Olympic Games
German athletes have participated in all but two stagings of the Winter Olympic Games, as they were left out in the cold after World Wars in 1924 and 1948. Germany entered into the Olympics for the first time in 1928 in St. Moritz. The nation was the host of the 1936 Winter Games in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and were chosen to be a host again for the canceled 1940 Winter Games.
Although they were a divided country, the Germans sent a joint East-West team between 1952 and 1964. In 1968 East Germany and West Germany officially sent separate teams for the first time and continued to do so up until 1988 until the separate East German state ceased to exist in 1990.
The nation is an immovable force in biathlon, luge and bobsleigh and a strong contender in speed skating, alpine skiing, ski jumping, figure skating and cross-country skiing.
The first medal of Germany was earned by its bobsleigh team in 1928. Germany won two gold medals eight years later on its own as turf as a host. Alpine skiers Franz Pfnür and Christl Cranz reigned supreme in the men’s combined and women’s combined respectively.
Other prominent German athletes include alpine ski racer Katja Seizinger (3 gold and 2 bronze), ski jumper Jens Weißflog (3 gold and 1 bronze), Nordic combined skier Ulrich Wehling (3 gold), alpine skier Rosemarie Mittermaier-Neureuther (2 gold and 1 bronze), and alpine skier Markus Wasmeier (2 gold).
Trivia
- At Albertville in 1992 Germany sent a single team after East and West German reunification in 1990.
- At the 1998 Nagano Games, Katja Seizinger of Germany became the first woman to win the downhill gold in successive Olympics.
- In Nagano in 1998, German luge great Georg Hackl became just the sixth Winter Olympian to win the same event in three consecutive Games.
- German Georg Hackl won the silver in luge in 2002, becoming the first athlete ever to win five medals in one event. Also at the same Games, German speed-skater Claudia Pechstein won two gold medals, taking home a medal in four straight Winter Games.
- In 2014, Germany's Carina Vogt became the first woman to win an Olympic ski jumping title.
- German speed skater Claudia Pechstein became the oldest female to compete at the Winter Olympics. She was competing in her 8th Winter Olympics, aged 49 years 362 days when she competed in the mass start speed skating event. The race was held three days before her 50th birthday.
- Germany had a very successful Games in 2022 on the sliding track, winning nine of the ten events.
- German pilot Francesco Friedrich made history in Beijing 2022, with his second consecutive Olympic bobsleigh double (in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh, in 2018 and 2022)
Related Pages
- See also East Germany and West Germany at the Winter Olympics
- More Winter Olympics Countries
- Winter Olympics main page.
- About Sport in Germany
- Germany at the Summer Olympics
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