Greco-Roman welterweight wrestler Gerhard Helbing won the bronze medal at the 1976 Montréal Olympics. Eight years later at Los Angeles he was eliminated in the third round. Due to the US-led boycott of the Moskva Games he could not participate in 1980. At the 1979 World Championships he collected another bronze medal, and in 1977 and 1985 finished sixth. At the 1980 and 1984 Europeans he finished an unfortunate fourth on both occasions.
From 1976-85 Helbing won ten consecutive West German national titles. A trained plumber, he was later employed by the municipality of Mainz. In addition, he worked as a wrestling coach and became Regional Chief Coach of Rhein-Hesse and assistant coach of the women’s national team. His daughter Sabrina also became a successful international wrestler.
West Germany