Bernhard Lehmann

East German bobsledder Bernhard Lehmann won a gold medal as the brakeman at the 1976 Winter Olympics in the four-man bob with pilot Meinhard Nehmer, Bernhard Germeshausen and Jochen Babock. Formed with 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, when they won over the favored bobs from West Germany, Switzerland and Austria.

This four-man team also won the World Championships that same year. Eight years later Lehmann piloted his own bobs with brakeman Bogdan Musiol and won two silver medals at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics, while in 1988 he added a bronze medal to his collection in the two-man event with Mario Hoyer. In 1983 Lehmann also won a gold medal at the European Championships in the two-man, adding a silver medal in 1986. At the World Championships he won silver in the 1982 four-man and won the title in that event in 1985.

As his father Helmut was a well-known handball coach, Bernhard’s first love was handball before he changed to bobsledding. He moved to Winterberg after German reunification and worked as the regional coach of Northrhine-Westfalia, where he coached among others Sandra Kiriasis.