Edy Hubacher

Edy Hubacher began his sporting career as a track and field athlete and set 20 Swiss national records, as well as one for the longest shot put distance in a decathlon, a world record that stands as of 2013, with a mark of 19.17 metres at a meet in Bern on 5 October 1969, when he scored 7,303 points. He represented Switzerland in the shot put and the discus throw at the 1968 Summer Olympics, but finished 15th and 25th respectively and failed to reach the finals. Hubacher was Swiss Champion in the shot put for nine consecutive years (1962-70), and won four Swiss titles in discus throw (1964, 1968-70), also winning the Swiss decathlon championship in 1970.

In 1970, with his track career waning, he became interested in bobsledding and quickly became adept at this new vocation, winning bronze in the two-man event with Jean Wicki at the 1972 European Championships. Hubacher and Wicki then attended the 1972 Winter Olympics, where they took bronze in the two-man and, alongside Werner Camichel and Hans Leutenegger, gold in the four-man. Hubacher retired after the Games to take up teaching, and later coached the Swiss bobsledding delegation to the 1976 Winter Olympics. He amassed 18 national titles between the shot put, discus, pentathlon, decathlon, and two-man bobsled over his career and later worked as a presenter for Radio Musikbox for over three decades.

Personal Bests: SP – 19.34 (1970); DT – 56.78 (1970).