Olympic Bobsleigh Champion Wolfgang Hoppe: Guest of Honor at the Mitropacup

Private

Wolfgang Hoppe, a native of Apolda, a two-time Olympic bobsleigh champion and multiple medal winner, will make the symbolic first move at Mitropacup on February 19.

Axel Eger looks back on his life's work:

In mid-March 1998, Wolfgang Hoppe, born in Apolda, Thuringia, ended his career as the most successful bobsledder of all time: His 33 international medals include 14 gold, 12 silver and seven bronze, six Olympic medals, including two gold and three silver, and eight World Championship titles. "I consider Wolfgang to be the greatest pilot of all time" (FAZ, 16.3.1998), confirmed the then Prince Albert von Monaco, a colleague of the bobsledder. At the end of 1999, he was voted "German Bobsleigh Athlete of the Century" by kicker. He found fulfillment in bobsleigh, Hoppe said, and and thats why he remained loyal to the sport. For a time he was vice-president of the international federation FIBT and in the German federation BSD he acted as national coach, most recently for the women's team. In the former GDR sports system, Hoppe was a model athlete, but he also coped well with the political situation after the fall of the Berlin Wall.