Dettlef Günther

Life and work

The story behind the role.

East German luger.

Dettlef Günther (sometimes shown as Detlef Günther, born 27 August 1954 in Erlabrunn, Saxony) is an East German former luger who competed from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. He won the gold medal in the men's singles event at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, Günther was favored to repeat after leading the first two runs, but crashed at the end of the third run causing him to lose three seconds and settling for fourth in the standings. Günther also won the gold medal in the men's singles event at the 1979 FIL World Luge Championships in Königssee, West Germany. He also won two medals in the men's singles event at the FIL European Luge Championships with a gold in 1975 and a silver in 1979.

Encyclopaedic excerpts from Dettlef Günther; shortened for length and available under CC BY-SA 4.0.