Raimund Bethge (born 7 July 1947 in Schwedt, Brandenburg) is an East German bobsledder who competed in the late 1970s. He took up the sport in 1975. He won a complete set of medals at the FIBT World Championships with a gold in four-man (

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

), a silver in two-man (

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

, and a bronze in four-man (1978). He also took a silver in 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, ...

in 1978 in the four-man event. Bethge also competed 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 ...

, finishing fourth in the four-man event and seventh in the two-man event. Prior to his role in bobsleigh, Bethge was national champion in the

110 metres hurdles The 110 metres hurdles, or 110-metre hurdles, is a hurdling track and field event for men. It is included in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympic Games. The female counterpart is the 100 metres hurdles. As part of a racing event, ten hur ...

in 1969, and finished fifth in the event at the

1969 European Championships in Athletics The 9th European Athletics Championships were held from 16–21 September 1969 in the Karaiskaki Stadium of Athens, the capital of Greece. New at these championships were the women's 1500 metres and the women's 4×400 metres relay event. Moreover, ...

in Athens. He also won East German national titles in the 110 metres hurdles and the indoor

55 metres hurdles 55 metres hurdles is a distance in hurdling, usually only run in indoor competitions. This is more commonly run at the high school level. The objective is to approach the first hurdle with 7 steps, each hurdle after that needs to have 3 step interv ...

in 1969 and as part of a successful

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...

team in 1970. Bethge was forced to retire from bobsleigh in 1979 following a

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

accident. That same year he took up coaching, initially as an assistant club coach at the Oberhof track. He became a trainer for the bobsleigh federation in East Germany, then for unified Germany after East and West Germany reunified in 1990. One of the athletes he trained was Wolfgang Hoppe, who would later become a coach for the German team. Another would be Christoph Langen, another successful bobsledder who was appointed as coach of the German team in 2010. Bethge was named trainer of the year in Germany in 2006 by the German Olympic Sports Confederation as a result of his successes that included 80 men's bobsleigh medals overall ( Winter Olympics, World championship, and European championship), 11 women's bobsleigh medals overall, and 11

skeleton A skeleton is the structural frame that supports the body of an animal. There are several types of skeletons, including the exoskeleton, which is the stable outer shell of an organism, the endoskeleton, which forms the support structure inside ...

medals overall. He donated the €10,000 prize money to the German Bobsleigh, Luge, and Skeleton Federation to fund youth development. He was able to attend the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

in Turin despite breaking both of his legs after being hit by an

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n bobsled during a practice run at Cesana Pariol on 30 November 2005. Bethge was planning to avoid travelling to the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

in Vancouver due to health problems arising from these injuries, but after the whole German team appealed to him to reconsider by wearing "Raimund for Whistler" t-shirts at a World Cup race in

St. Moritz St. Moritz (also german: Sankt Moritz, rm, , it, San Maurizio, french: Saint-Moritz) is a high Alpine resort town in the Engadine in Switzerland, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is Upper Engadine's major town and a municipality in ...

he agreed to attend the Games. He retired from coaching in August 2010. Bethge is the half-brother of the sports shooter

Bernhard Hochwald Bernhard Hochwald (born 27 June 1957 in Schöneiche) is a German sport shooter. He competed in skeet shooting events at the Summer Olympics in 1980, 1988, 1992, and 1996. He is married to the shooter Katja Klepp and the bobsledder Raimund Bethge ...

and Katja Klepp is his sister-in-law.

References

Australian Broadcasting Company News on BethgeBethge named 2006 Trainer of the Year.

*Wallenchinsky, David (1984). "Bobsled". In ''The Complete Book of the Olympics: 1896 – 1980''. New York: Penguin Books. pp. 559, 561. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bethge, Raimund 1947 births Living people Sportspeople from Schwedt German male bobsledders East German male hurdlers Bobsledders at the 1976 Winter Olympics Olympic bobsledders for East Germany German sports coaches