West German bob pilot Andreas Osterl won two gold medals at the 1951 World Championships at Alpe d’Huez together with brakeman Lorenz Nieberl in the two-man event and completed by Michael Pössinger and non-Olympian Xaver Leitl in the four-man event. In 1953 he won the silver medal in both the two-man and the four-man event at his hometown track of Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Ostler also won two gold medals at the 1952 Winter Games at Oslo with Nieberl in the two-man event and completed by Fritz Kuhn and Franz Kemser in the four-man event. In order to have a shot at the title, the second German four-man sled wasn’t entered, and instead the two heaviest pushers – Kuhn and Kemser – joined Ostler and Nieberl in the remaining sled. This gave the Germans a decisive advantage, as they weighed in at 472 kg (including sled), and they comfortably slid to the gold. The international bobsleigh federation (FIBT) soon afterwards decided to limit the weight for four-man teams to 420 kg. Four years later Ostler was the flagbearer at the opening ceremony at Cortina d’Ampezzo and placed eighth in the two-man event with Hans Hohenester.
Ostler made his living as a restaurant proprietor. In 2006 the story about the 1952 German four-man bob was told in a cinema comedy called Schwere Jungs (Heavy Boys).
Germany
West Germany