East German bobsledder Andreas Kirchner won a bronze medal at the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics in the four-man bob as the brakeman together with Horst Schönau, Roland Wetzig and Detlef Richter. Four years later he won the gold medal in the same event with Wetzig, pilot Wolfgang Hoppe and Dietmar Schauerhammer. This bob was elected 1984 team of the year in the former GDR. At the World Championships Kirchner added one silver (two-man 1981) and one bronze medal (two-man 1982), while at the European Championships he won another two silver medals (two-man 1982, four-man 1981).
Kirchner started his career as a hammer thrower with a personal best of 64.96 m (1976) but changed to bobsledding in 1977. He later studied in Jena and was educated as a school teacher for English and sports, had to retire in 2000 due to a chronic illness. He was found dead in his flat on 15 November 2010, having died five days earlier.