In January 1968, shortly before the Grenoble Olympics, where he would have been one of the absolute favorites, Ralph Pöhland used the opportunity to escape from the German Democratic Republic while participating in a pre-Olympic competition in Switzerland. He was assisted by Georg Thoma and afterwards was barred from the Olympics by the FIS, yielding to pressure from the Eastern Bloc. After winning the West German title in 1968 and 1969 Pöhland then participated in the 1972 Olympics finishing tenth and ended his career as a ski coach, amongst others for Urban Hettich and Georg Zipfel.
West Germany