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| Event type

Four, Men

Date21 – 22 February 1992
StatusOlympic
LocationPiste de Bobsleigh et Luge, La Plagne
Participants124 from 20 countries
FormatFour runs, total time determined placement.
DetailsCurves: 19
Length: 1508 m
Start Altitude: 1685 m
Vertical Drop: 125 m

In the two decades since the Sapporo Olympics only the victory of the Soviet Union at the 1988 Winter Games had ruined a perfect run of World and Olympic titles divided between Germany and Switzerland. The 1992 title was again expected to be contested between these two superpowers of the sport. Before competition started the Germans suffered a setback when Germany II’s pilot Horst Czudaj was accused of spying on his team mates for the East German security forces in the late eighties. Although he was eventually cleared to compete, the controversy appeared to affect his concentration and he finished no higher than sixth.

The struggle for the Olympic gold was intense but it was neither a German or Swiss crew that stood on the top step of the podium at the end of the second day. Ingo Appelt and Austria I had been third in the 1990 World Championships but was not expected to challenge for the gold in Albertville. The Austrians made up for a poor second run by producing three excellent ones and had just 0.02 of a second to spare when they crossed the line.

Canada II’s Olympic adventure ended in high farce. It was true that they crossed the line safely enough on the third run but without twenty-five percent of their crew. Jack Pyc had slipped at the start, failed to get into the bob and slid around several corners before coming to a halt. The team were disqualified. A similar fate nearly befell a Unified Team crew member as he also slipped attempting to enter his sled. Oleksandr Bortiuk did make it into the bob albeit facing in the opposite direction to which he intended.

PosCompetitorsNOCTimeRun #1Run #2Run #3Run #4
1Austria 1AUT3:53.9057.74 (1)58.85 (=10)58.52 (1)58.79 (=3)Gold
Ingo AppeltHarald WinklerGerhard HaidacherThomas Schroll
2Germany 1GER3:53.9258.00 (=3)58.52 (1)58.68 (7)58.72 (2)Silver
Wolfgang HoppeBogdan MusiolAxel KühnRené Hannemann
3Switzerland 1SUI3:54.1357.97 (2)58.78 (6)58.59 (=3)58.79 (=3)Bronze
Gustav WederDonat AcklinLorenz SchindelholzCurdin Morell
4Canada 1CAN3:54.2458.00 (=3)58.71 (=3)58.66 (6)58.87 (7)
Chris LoriKen LeBlancCal LangfordDave MacEachern
5Switzerland 2SUI3:54.3858.15 (5)58.75 (5)58.59 (=3)58.89 (=8)
Christian MeiliBruno GerberChristian ReichGerold Löffler
6Germany 2GER3:54.4258.54 (9)58.55 (2)58.62 (5)58.71 (1)
Harald CzudajTino BonkAxel JangAlexander Szelig
7Great Britain 1GBR3:54.8958.49 (8)58.87 (12)58.73 (9)58.80 (5)
Mark ToutGeorge FarrellPaul FieldLenny Paul
8France 1FRA3:54.9158.45 (7)58.79 (7)58.78 (11)58.89 (=8)
Christophe FlacherClaude DasseThierry TribondeauGabriel Fourmigue
9United States 1USA3:54.9258.57 (10)58.71 (=3)58.75 (10)58.89 (=8)
Randy WillJoe SawyerKarlos KirbyChris Coleman
10Austria 2AUT3:55.0158.27 (6)58.85 (=10)59.08 (14)58.81 (6)
Gerhard RainerThomas BachlerCarsten NentwigMartin Schützenauer
11United States 2USA3:55.2358.74 (12)58.99 (=13)58.56 (2)58.94 (12)
Chuck LeonowiczBob WeissenfelsBryan LeturgezJeff Woodard
12Italy 1ITA3:55.8858.78 (14)58.83 (=8)59.12 (15)59.15 (15)
Pasquale GesuitoAntonio TartagliaPaolo CanediStefano Ticci
13Great Britain 2GBR3:55.9158.86 (15)58.83 (=8)59.29 (16)58.93 (11)
Nick PhippsEdd HorlerColin RattiganDavid Armstrong
14Latvia 1LAT3:55.9259.05 (=19)59.07 (16)58.72 (8)59.08 (13)
Sandis PrūsisJuris ToneIvars BērzupsAdris Plūksna
15Italy 2ITA3:55.9858.76 (13)59.11 (17)58.97 (13)59.14 (14)
Günther HuberMarco AndreattaThomas RottensteinerAntonio Stiffi
16Latvia 2LAT3:56.7259.02 (16)58.99 (=13)59.35 (18)59.36 (16)
Zintis EkmanisAldis IntlersBoriss ArtemjevsOtomārs Rihters
17JapanJPN3:57.2459.23 (21)59.30 (18)59.33 (17)59.38 (=17)
Toshio WakitaRyoji YamazakiFuminori TsushimaNaomi Takewaki
18France 2FRA3:57.4159.03 (17)59.33 (19)59.52 (20)59.53 (20)
Bruno MingeonStéphane PoirotDidier StilDominique Klinnik
19Unified Team 1EUN3:57.4359.05 (=19)1:00.05 (22)58.94 (12)59.39 (19)
Oleg SukhoruchenkoOleksandr BortiukVladimir LyubovitskyAndrey Gorokhov
20RomaniaROU3:57.4459.04 (18)59.52 (20)59.50 (19)59.38 (=17)
Paul NeaguLaszlo HodosLaurențiu BudurCostel Petrariu
21CzechoslovakiaTCH3:58.5559.30 (22)59.66 (21)59.92 (21)59.67 (21)
Jiří DžmuraPavel PuškárKarel DostálRoman Hrabaň
=22BulgariaBUL4:00.591:00.05 (24)1:00.28 (=24)1:00.09 (22)1:00.17 (22)
Tsvetozar ViktorovDimitar DimitrovYordan IvanovValentin Atanasov
=22Unified Team 2EUN4:00.5959.80 (23)1:00.19 (23)1:00.34 (23)1:00.26 (23)
Vladimir YefimovOleg PetrovSergey KruglovAleksandr Pashkov
24YugoslaviaYUG4:01.301:00.16 (26)1:00.28 (=24)1:00.59 (26)1:00.27 (24)
Zdravko StojnićDragiša JovanovićMiro PandurevićOgnjen Sokolović
25JamaicaJAM4:01.371:00.12 (25)1:00.48 (27)1:00.38 (24)1:00.39 (25)
Dudley StokesRicky McIntoshMichael WhiteChris Stokes
26Chinese TaipeiTPE4:01.941:00.31 (27)1:00.45 (26)1:00.52 (25)1:00.66 (26)
Chen Chin-SanChen Chin-SenHsu Kuo-JungChang Min-Jung
27MonacoMON4:02.631:00.49 (28)1:00.66 (28)1:00.74 (27)1:00.74 (27)
Albert, Prince GrimaldiGilbert BessiMichel VatricanDavid Tomatis
28MexicoMEX4:05.141:00.97 (30)1:01.36 (30)1:01.30 (28)1:01.51 (28)
Luis Adrián TamésRicardo RodríguezFrancisco NegreteCarlos Casar
29United States Virgin Islands 2ISV4:10.351:02.45 (31)1:02.52 (31)1:02.73 (29)1:02.65 (29)
Sven PetersenMichael JuhlinJames WitheyPaul Zar
DNFUnited States Virgin Islands 1ISV1:00.92 (29)1:01.08 (29)– (DNS)
Daniel BurgnerErnest MathiasDavid EntwistleBill Neill
DQCanada 2CAN58.61 (11)59.00 (15)– (DQ)1
Dennis MarineauChris FarstadJack PycSheridon Baptiste