Christoph Langen

West German bobsledder Christoph Langen was educated as a car mechanic, but later became a consultant and expert for German TV channels. Since 2010 he has served as chief national coach for the German bobsled team. In his youth he was a track and field athlete, and was Bavarian Champion in the high jump and decathlon with considerable potential, but in 1985, he switched to bobsledding.

With 23 gold medals at international major championships Langen became one of the most decorated bobsledders in the world in both the two-man and the four-man events, also adding seven silver and six bronze medals. Among those victories are seven gold medals at European Championships, six at World Cup Championships, eight at World Championships and two Olympic gold medals in 1998 and 2002. All-in-all he took part in four consecutive Olympic Games between 1988 and 2002. His attempt at a fifth participation in 2006 was halted due to heart disease.

Langen started his career as a brakeman with pilot Anton Fischer and non-Olympian Christian Schebitz. In 1991, he changed to the bob of Wolfgang Hoppe, by whom he was encouraged to pilot his own bob. He then choose Markus Zimmermann as his brakeman and collected most of his titles with him. But Langen also won medals with his track and field teammates, former sprinter Olaf Hampel and former discus thrower Marco Jakobs. Langen retired in 2005, but since 2006 he takes part in the fun competition “Wok World Championships” of famous German TV entertainer Stefan Raab, where he added several titles to his collection with his teams.