East German bobsledder Jochen Babock won a gold medal at the 1976 Innsbruck Winter Olympics with the four-man bob with pilot Meinhard Nehmer, Bernhard Germanshausen and brakeman Bernhard Lehmann. Formed from a backbone of converted track and field athletes the GDR had threatened to break through to the podium positions over the previous seasons and in Innsbruck this was achieved in spectacular fashion. Therefore they were able to defeat the favored bobs from West Germany, Switzerland and Austria. Three years later Babock won the European Championships with almost the same team but with a new brakeman Hans-Jürgen Gerhardt.
Babock was educated as a graduate sports teacher and later worked at the Olympic Training Center in Munich for the German Snowboard Association, the German Speed Skating Association, the Bavarian Judo Association, and the German National Hockey Team as well as for some Munich affiliations.
East Germany