Thomas Köhler biography
Thomas Köhler, (born June 25, 1940, Germany), German luger who on the 1964 Winter Games in Innsbruck, Austria, received the primary Olympic luge competitors. He was one of the vital profitable lugers within the historical past of the game, profitable two Olympic titles and three world championships in his profession.
Köhler started coaching for the luge in applications sponsored by the East German authorities. He received his first world championship luge title in 1962, competing within the singles occasion. In 1967 he once more received the singles title, and that yr he additionally added the two-seater title, sharing the luge with Klaus Bonsack.
The sport of luge tobogganing debuted as a medal competitors on the Winter Olympics of 1964, and Köhler grew to become the primary luge Olympic gold medalist by profitable the singles occasion. He competed once more within the Winter Olympics of 1968 at Grenoble, France. For the primary time at a Winter Games, there have been two separate German groups, and controversy swirled across the East German groups from the beginning. After the East German ladies’s group was disqualified for heating their runners, different groups declared that they'd stroll out if the boys’s group was allowed to compete. The International Luge Federation selected to not droop the boys’s group; nevertheless, delicate climate prevented additional runs on the luge course, and the competitors ended after three runs. Despite these obstacles, Köhler was capable of win one other gold medal within the males’s two-seater (once more with Bonsack) and a silver within the singles occasion.