Jan Hoffmann (born 26 October 1955) is a German

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

who represented

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

in competition. A four-time Olympian, he is the 1980 Olympic silver medalist, the 1974 & 1980

World Champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, and a four-time (1974, 1977–1979) European Champion.

Personal life

Jan Hoffmann was born on 26 October 1955 in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...

. He is married and has one daughter.

Career

Competitive

Hoffmann's first coach was Annemarie Halbach in

. He later switched to Jutta Müller in

Karl-Marx-Stadt Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 28th largest city of Germany as ...

(today

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

). He represented the former

in competition. He was one of a handful of figure skaters who rotated clockwise, landing on his left foot. At the age of 12, Hoffmann competed at the

1968 Winter Olympics The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games (french: Les Xes Jeux olympiques d'hiver), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated. Frenchm ...

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

and placed 26th. He finished sixth at the

1972 Winter Olympics The 1972 Winter Olympics, officially the and commonly known as Sapporo 1972 ( ja, 札幌1972), was a winter multi-sport event held from February 3 to 13, 1972, in Sapporo, Japan. It was the first Winter Olympic Games to take place outside Europe ...

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

, having ranked fourth in figures and tenth in the free skate. Hoffmann's first gold medal at an ISU Championship came at the 1974 European Championships in

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slop ...

, where he defeated Sergey Volkov of the Soviet Union and

John Curry John Anthony Curry, (9 September 1949 – 15 April 1994) was a British Figure skating, figure skater. He was the 1976 1976 European Figure Skating Championships, European, Figure skating at the 1976 Winter Olympics, Olympic and World Figure Sk ...

of the United Kingdom. At the 1974 World Championships in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

, he placed first in figures, second in the short program, and fifth in the free skate. Technically gifted, he landed a triple Lutz in the free skate, the most difficult triple jump done at the time. Finishing ahead of Volkov and Canada's

Toller Cranston Toller Shalitoe Montague Cranston, CM (April 20, 1949 – January 24, 2015) was a Canadian figure skater and painter. He won the 1971–1976 Canadian national championships, the 1974 World bronze medal and the 1976 Olympic bronze medal. ...

, he stood atop the world podium for the first time. Later that year, he injured his knee on the

trampoline A trampoline is a device consisting of a piece of taut, strong fabric stretched between a steel frame using many coiled spring (device), springs. Not all trampolines have springs, as the Springfree Trampoline uses glass-reinforced plastic rods. ...

. He had surgery on his

meniscus Meniscus may refer to: *Meniscus (anatomy), crescent-shaped fibrocartilaginous structure that partly divides a joint cavity *Meniscus (liquid) The meniscus (plural: ''menisci'', from the Greek for "crescent") is the curve in the upper surface ...

and subsequently missed the entire 1974–75 season. Hoffmann finished fourth at the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol (state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the ...

after placing fourth in figures, ninth in the short program, and fifth in the free skate. At the 1979 European Championships in

, Hoffmann finished ahead of the Soviet Union's

Vladimir Kovalyov Vladimir Nikolayevich Kovalyov (russian: Владимир Николаевич Ковалёв; born 2 February 1953) is a retired figure skater who competed internationally for the USSR. He is an Olympic silver medalist and 2-time World champion. ...

and the United Kingdom's

Robin Cousins Robin Cousins, MBE (born 17 August 1957) is a British former competitive figure skater who was BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1980. He was the 1980 Olympic champion, the 1980 European champion, a three-time World medalist (1978–19 ...

to win his fourth continental title. He took bronze behind the same skaters at the 1979 World Championships in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

. In January 1980, Hoffmann placed second to Cousins at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...

. The

1980 Winter Olympics The 1980 Winter Olympics, officially the XIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Lake Placid 1980, were an international multi-sport event held from February 13 to 24, 1980, in Lake Placid, New York, United States. Lake Placid was elected ...

took place in February in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburgh. ...

. In his fourth Olympics, Hoffmann ranked first in figures, second in the short, and second in the free, winning the silver medal behind Cousins and ahead of Charles Tickner of the United States. At these Games, he became the first man to land a triple

lutz jump The Lutz is a figure skating jump, named after Alois Lutz, an Austrian skater who performed it in 1913. It is a toepick-assisted jump with an entrance from a back outside edge and landing on the back outside edge of the opposite foot. It is the ...

in the Olympics. He ended his amateur career in March at the 1980 World Championships in

Dortmund Dortmund (; Westphalian nds, Düörpm ; la, Tremonia) is the third-largest city in North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne and Düsseldorf, and the eighth-largest city of Germany, with a population of 588,250 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the la ...

. Ranked first in figures and second in the next two segments, he finished ahead of Cousins and Tickner and was awarded his second World title.

Post-competitive

Hoffmann studied medicine and became an

orthopaedic Orthopedic surgery or orthopedics ( alternatively spelt orthopaedics), is the branch of surgery concerned with conditions involving the musculoskeletal system. Orthopedic surgeons use both surgical and nonsurgical means to treat musculoskeletal ...

specialist. He served on the managing board of the

Deutsche Eislauf-Union The German Ice Skating Union (german: Deutsche Eislauf-Union, DEU) is the national amateur association for figure skating and ice dancing in Germany. The various German ice sports associations constitute the membership of the DEU; individuals canno ...

and has appeared as a figure skating judge. He judged the ladies' event at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

and was one of five judges who placed

Oksana Baiul , altname= Oksana Baiul-Farina , birth_date= , birth_place=Dnipro, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union , residence= , height= , formercoach= Galina Zmievskaya Valentyn Nikolayev Stanislav Koritek , formerchoreographer= Sarah Kawahara , formertra ...

ahead of

Nancy Kerrigan Nancy Ann Kerrigan (born October 13, 1969) is an American figure skating, figure skater and actress. She won bronze medals at the 1991 World Figure Skating Championships, 1991 World Championships and the Figure skating at the 1992 Winter Olympic ...

. Hoffman also judged the ladies competition at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...

and gave his first-place ordinal to

Michelle Kwan Michelle Wingshan Kwan (born July 7, 1980) is a retired competitive figure skater and diplomat serving as United States Ambassador to Belize. In figure skating Kwan is a two-time Olympic medalist (silver in 1998, bronze in 2002), a five-time W ...

Results

References

* Scott Hamilton, ''Landing It''. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoffmann, Jan 1955 births Living people Sportspeople from Dresden German male single skaters Figure skaters at the 1976 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1972 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1968 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1980 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of East Germany Olympic silver medalists for East Germany Figure skating judges Olympic medalists in figure skating World Figure Skating Championships medalists European Figure Skating Championships medalists Medalists at the 1980 Winter Olympics Recipients of the Patriotic Order of Merit in gold