Reto Götschi took up bobsled in 1986 and drew attention for his skill at the 1991 World Junior Championships. His first, and arguably greatest, major international achievement came at the 1994 Winter Olympics where, with partner Guido Acklin, he finished 0.05 seconds behind Acklin’s brother Donat and compatriot Gustav Weder to claim silver in the two-man event. After coming in third and second at the 1995 and 1996 European Championships respectively, he was third in two-man at the 1996 World Championships, but then earned gold the following year. He was also the original winner of the four-man event, but was disqualified alongside the second- and third-placing Swiss teams for competing with a bobsled that the national team had been using all season, unaware that it was illegal. He was also champion in the four-man and third place in the two-man at the 1997 European Championships.
Götschi and Acklin returned to the Winter Olympics in 1998 as reigning World and European Champions, but a strong pool of competitors relegated them to sixth place in the two-man. Acklin retired from active competition in 1999, after a final European title in the two-man, but Götschi continued to compete and earned silver in the two-man at the 2001 World Championships, alongside Cédric Grand. Götschi retired from active competition in May 2002, having captured nine Swiss national titles in the two-man and two in the four-man. By career he was originally a home building and house inspector but, in August 2011, he became the CEO of “Swiss Sliding”, Switzerland’s luge, bobsleigh, and skeleton federation.
Switzerland