Great Winter Olympic rivalries: Switzerland vs Germany - men's bobsleigh

Throughout the 1980s and 90s, athletes from Switzerland and Germany had one of the most intense rivalries the sport of bobsleigh has ever seen. Over those two decades - at a time where there was only a men’s competition - sliders from Germany (at different stages East, West and the Germany we know today) and Switzerland alternated positions on the podium at the Olympic Winter Games. 

Between the two-man and four-man competitions, the Swiss won four gold, one silver and two bronze medals. German teams finished first on five occasions, second on seven occasions and third on six.

The origins of bobsleigh take us back to 19th century Switzerland, when locals took advantage of frozen paths, descending down them driven only by gravity. Around the 1880s, switchgear and chassis were installed to give them more protection. The first club was founded in 1897, in St. Moritz, in the canton of Grisons.

With the exception of Squaw Valley 1960, bobsleigh has been a mainstay of the Games, since the very first one in Chamonix 1924. However, it was only at Salt Lake City 2002 that a two-woman event was added to the programme.

As the "cradle" of the sport, it was natural to expect Swiss athletes to excel at the Olympics. Over in Germany, centres such as Königssee and Oberhof have contributed greatly to the development of bobsleigh, with the latter located in the former East Germany.

Innsbruck 1976 saw some sleds from the Federal Republic of Germany (West Germany) reach the podium, but at Lake Placid 1980, the strength of Switzerland and the German Democratic Republic (East Germany) prevailed. In the two-man competition, Erich Schärer and Joef Benz of Switzerland won gold. Silver went to Bernhard Germeshausen and Hans-Jurgen Gerhardt, and