HALL OF FAME
RETO CAPADRUTT
RETO
CAPADRUTT
* 04.03.1912
† 03.02.1939
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1932: Silver in 2-man Bobsleigh
Olympic Winter Games 1936: Silver in 4-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1935: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
“He is one of the most likeable of all the foreign competitors, the Swiss student and 1935 World Champion in two-man bobsleigh: Reto Capadrutt.” These are the words used to describe him by a German tabloid in 1936. And indeed, anyone who did not know Reto Capadrutt would hardly have credited the student with two Olympic Silver medals and a World Championship title. Reto Capadrutt was slim, rather small – and above all, modest.
Reto Capadrutt knew the Olympic Bob Run – and the neighboring Cresta Run – very well. But he still had an accident here in 1939: While his brakeman survived the fall almost unharmed, Reto Capadrutt was caught under his bobsleigh and was killed.
RAIMUND BETHGE
RAIMUND
BETHGE
* 07.07.1947
Nation
Germany
Major successes – as a Bobsleigh Pilot
Bobsleigh World Championship 1977: Gold in 4-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championship 1978: Silver in 2-man and Bronze in 4-man Bobsleigh
Major Successes – as Head Coach
A total of 102 medals won for Germany at World Championships and the Olympic Games.
He initially became involved in bobsledding as a pusher and won Gold in a four-man bobsleigh event in St. Moritz in 1977. However, Raimund Bethge not only gave a boost to the heavyweight crews in the ice canal, but to the sport of bobsleigh as a whole. As head coach, he led the German Skeleton and Bobsleigh teams to more than 100 medals at World Championships and Olympic Games.
A unique record. All the more so because Raimund Bethge achieved this feat against the backdrop of German reunification: The head coach first had to form a new German identity out of the East and West German teams and the different personalities within. He succeeded thanks to his modest, yet success-oriented manner. Even serious accidents like the one in Cesana, where a bobsleigh hit him in 2005, could not change his approach.
JEAN WICKI
JEAN
WICKI
* 18.06.1933
† 11.06.2023
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1972: Gold in 4-man Bob, Bronze in 2-man Bob
Olympic Winter Games 1968: Bronze in 4-man Bob
European Champion x 2, Swiss Champion x 8
Ambition and passion: these two characteristics run through Jean Wicki’s life – and led him to success in sport and in his career. Born in Valais in 1933, Jean Wicki joined the French Formula 1 racing team Gordini at the age of twenty and became a test driver. The joy of speed soon led him to bobsledding. His championship titles and medals at the Winter Olympics in Grenoble (1968) and Sapporo (1972) made him a Swiss legend in bobsleigh.
Professionally, his life path led him from piloting simple soapboxes to managing two large garages and a real estate business.
EDY HUBACHER
EDY
HUBACHER
* 15.04.1940
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes in Bobsleigh
Olympic Winter Games 1972: Gold in 4-man Bobsleigh, Bronze in 2-man Bobsleigh
Born in Bern in 1940, Edy Hubacher is known as a shot-putter, discus thrower and “the nation’s enigma”. As a shot-putter, he bettered the Swiss record 15 times in a row, and as a discus thrower he did so five times. As a crossword designer, Edy Hubacher, a teacher and track and field athlete with 16 championship titles to his name, created numerous crossword puzzles for various magazines.
And as a bobsledder ….he also excelled. As a member of Jean Wicki’s four-man bobsleigh team, together with Hans Leutenegger and Werner Camichel, he won an Olympic Gold medal in Sapporo in 1972. He came to bobsledding rather by chance: he had observed bobsleighers’ pushing exercises at the sports school in Magglingen, tried it himself under the watchful eye of Jean Wicki – and achieved a best time at his first attempt.
HANS LEUTENEGGER
HANS
LEUTENEGGER
* 16.01.1940
Nation
Switzerland
Major success
Olympic Winter Games 1972: Gold in 4-man Bobsleigh
From farmer’s son to metalworker, bobsledder, actor and entrepreneur: Hans “Hausi” Leutenegger was and is active in many fields – and he likes to do it fast. Born in 1940 in rural Thurgau, Hans Leutenegger first became a metalworker – and soon founded a specialist recruitment company. Today, a good 1,000 employees work for the Hans Leutenegger Group. He came to bobsledding as a national gymnast and won Olympic Gold in the four-man bobsleigh in 1972 in Sapporo together with Jean Wicki, Werner Camichel and Edy Hubacher.
Hans Leutenegger also became known as the “Burt Reynolds” of the Alps. The versatile man can be seen as an actor, amongst others, in the action film “Kommando Leopard” (1985), alongside Lewis Collins and Klaus Kinski.
WERNER CAMICHEL
WERNER
CAMICHEL
* 26.01.1945
† 27.03.2006
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1972: Gold in 4-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1973 & 1975: Gold in 4-man Bobsleigh
“Sport is my life,” said Werner Camichel. The sporting highlight of this life was in 1972 in Sapporo: Werner Camichel won Olympic Gold in the four-man bobsleigh “Switzerland I” with Jean Wicki, Hans Leutenegger and Edy Hubacher. In 1973 and 1975, the qualified electrician and passionate decathlete, skier and ice hockey player became World Champion in Erich Schärer’s four-man bobsleigh.
Werner Camichel was not only a passionate bobsledder, he also promoted the sport – amongst his other duties, he was the longstanding, esteemed and innovative Operations Manager of the Olympic Bob Run. He knew the track very well, having won several medals here at Swiss Championships.
ANTHONY NASH
ANTHONY
NASH
* 18.03.1936
† 17.03.2022
Nation
Great Britain
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1964: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1963 & 1966: Bronze in 2-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1965: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
What is behind sporting success? In bobsledding, it certainly requires strength, skill, and team spirit. And sometimes subtle gestures are also decisive, as was the case with Anthony Nash and Robin Dixon’s Olympic victory in Innsbruck in 1964. Of all people, their fiercest competitor, the Italian Eugenio Monti, was there to offer them a replacement for a broken bolt.
The result: The team Nash/Dixon won Olympic Gold. Eugenio Monti and his brakeman Sergio Siorpaes finished third. That said, Nash/Dixon were also very successful without the help of the competition. For instance here in St. Moritz, where the team won the 1965 World Championship.
ROBIN DIXON
ROBIN
DIXON
* 21.04.1935
Nation
Great Britain
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1964: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1963 & 1966: Bronze in 2-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1965: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
The highest point in Great Britain is lower than the length of the Olympic Bob Run: the bobsleigh track measures 1,722 metres, the mountain Ben Navis is 1,345 metres high. Great Britain probably does not offer the best conditions for bobsledding. But the British teams are still successful. And that is thanks to personalities like Robin Dixon, a Baron, former Professional Officer, and brakeman.
Together with Anthony “Tony” Nash, Robin Dixon won numerous races and the team was one of the most successful bobsleigh teams of the 1960s. Less known may be the full name of Robin Dixon: Thomas Robin Valerian Dixon, 3rd Baron of Glentoran.
HUBERT MARTINEAU
HUBERT
MARTINEAU
* 24.10.1891
† 11.09.1976
Nation
Great Britain
Great merits
President of the Saint Moritz Bobsleigh Club from 1923 until 1969
Hubert Martineau witnessed both Winter Olympics in St. Moritz in a very special way: In 1928, he saw the teams of William Fiske (USA II) and Jennison Heaton (USA I) race to Gold and Silver, and his stepson Henry Martineau finish 9th in the GBR I bobsleigh team. In 1948, Hubert Martineau also very carefully watched the women’s figure skating: he acted as a competition judge at these Winter Olympics.
At the same time, Hubert Martineau himself was a sportsman through and through. The Briton loved cricket, horse racing – and bobsledding. He promoted the latter right here in St. Moritz: Hubert Martineau was president of the Saint Moritz Bobsleigh Club for 46 years.
ERICH SCHÄRER
ERICH
SCHÄRER
* 01.09.1946
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1980: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
Olympic Winter Games 1976 & 1980: Silver in 4-man Bobsleigh
Olympic Winter Games 1976: Bronze in 2-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships l978, 1979, 1982: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1971, 1973, 1975, 1986: Gold in 4-man Bobsleigh
A policeman stopped Erich Schärer on the street, and seeing that he wasn’t wearing a seatbelt, said: “So Mr Schärer, you don’t wear a seatbelt in a bobsleigh either, do you!” There are plenty of anecdotes like this about bobsleigh legend Erich Schärer. The most successful Swiss bobsledder of all time did not always get away with it: he was fined in St. Moritz, for example, for violating the advertising ban; he had stuck three stripes on his bobsleigh that was similar to the logo of a sporting goods brand. His comment that he had become World Champion three times was not convincing!
He did, however, become World Champion again on a number of occasions, for a total of seven titles. And the man from Zurich has no shortage of medals: Erich Schärer stood on the podium 14 times at World Championships, and was European Champion three times.
GUNTER SACHS
GUNTER
SACHS
* 14.11.1932
† 07.05.2011
Nation
Germany
Major successes and great merits
Junior European Championships 1959: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
President of the Saint Moritz Bobsleigh Club from 1969 until 2011
Brigitte Bardot, Andy Warhol, Nino Bibbia: Gunter Sachs knew them all. He married the French actress, promoted the American artist, and brought the St. Moritz winter sportsman to the screen – or rather to his sports documentary “Happening in White”. Gunter Sachs became known as a playboy and bon vivant. In St. Moritz, for example, he is said to have once hurtled down the Bob Run in a coffin.
What is often forgotten is that Gunter Sachs was also extremely reliable and generous. He promoted bobsledding in St. Moritz as a patron and was President of the Saint Moritz Bobsleigh Club for 42 years.
FRITZ FEIERABEND
FRITZ
FEIERABEND
* 29.06.1908
† 25.11.1978
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1936, 1948, 1952: 3 × Silver, 2 × Bronze
Bobsleigh World Championships 1935, 1938, 1939, 1947, 1949 1950, 1954, 1955: 7 x Gold, 2 × Silver, 3 × Bronze
Swiss bobsleigh athlete, World Champion and bobsleigh designer
Fritz Feierabend was active from 1933 to 1955 and was one of the most successful bobsleigh pilots in the world during this time, both in two-man and four-man bobsleigh. He won a number of medals and titles. For example, at the 1947 World Championships in St. Moritz he won twice: Gold in the two-man bobsleigh and Gold in the four-man bobsleigh.
Together with his father Carl, Feierabend constructed the world’s first bobsleigh sled made entirely of steel, which became known as the ‘Feierabend bob’. He won six Gold, three Silver and three Bronze medals at World Championships and came second three times and third twice at the Olympic Games. Although he had to take a break from competition for several years during the Second World War, he was able to continue and even surpass his earlier successes after 1947.
FELIX ENDRICH
FELIX ENDRICH
* 05.12.1921
† 31.01.1953
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1948: Gold in 2-man Bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1947, 1949, 1951, 1953: 3 × Gold, 1 × Silver, 1 × Bronze
Swiss Bobsleigh athlete and Olympic Champion
Felix Endrich competed twice at the Olympic Games. In 1948, he was Olympic Champion in the two-man bobsleigh and fourth in the four-man bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics in St. Moritz. He also had the honour of leading the Swiss team as flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Games. At the 1952 Winter Olympics in Oslo, he finished fourth in both the two-man and four-man bobsleigh.
At the 1947 Bobsleigh World Championships, he claimed the World Champion title in the four-man bobsleigh as Fritz Feierabend’s team-mate, and came second in the two-man bobsleigh with his regular team-mate Fritz Waller. Two years later, in 1949, Endrich and Waller won the two-man bobsleigh world championship. In 1953, he again won the two-man bobsleigh world championship with Fritz Stöckli as his pusher. One week after winning this title on the Riessersee Olympic Bobsleigh Run in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, he had a fatal accident on the same track when he came out of the notorious Bayern Curve in his four-man bobsleigh. Endrich suffered a broken neck and died on the way to hospital.
EUGENIO MONTI
EUGENIO MONTI
* 23.01.1928
† 01.12.2003
Nation
Italy
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1956, 1964, 1968: 2 × Gold, 2 × Silver, 2 × Bronze
Bobsleigh World Championships 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1966: 9 × Gold, 1 × Silver
Italian Bobsleigh athlete and Olympic Champion
During the 1950s and 1960s, Monti won 10 medals at the World Bobsleigh Championships, (9 of them Gold), and was Olympic Champion in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh at the 1968 Olympic Games in Grenoble. His collection of medals was completed by two Silver medals (two-man and four-man bobsleigh) at the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d’Ampezzo, and two Bronze medals in Innsbruck in 1964. In 1964, he was honoured with the first Pierre de Coubertin World Fair Play Award after giving Anthony Nash and Robin Dixon, the eventual winners in the two-man bobsleigh, a replacement for a broken screw that he had taken from his own bobsleigh. His successes make him, together with the German Francesco Friedrich, the most successful bobsleigh pilot of all time. The 18th bend of the Cesana Pariol Olympic track in Cesana (Turin 2006) was named after him. After his death in 2003, the 1956 Olympic track was renamed Pista Olimpica Eugenio Monti in his honour and is now being rebuilt as a new track for the 2026 Winter Olympics.
NICO BARACCHI
NICO BARACCHI
* 19.04.1957
† 24.03.2015
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
World Championships 1982 Skeleton, 1989 Bobsleigh: 2 × Silver
European Championships 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986 Skeleton, 1988 Bobsleigh: 3 × Gold, 1 × Silver, 1 × Bronze
Swiss Skeleton and Bobsleigh pilot
Nico Baracchi was, in 1981, selected to be part of the Swiss national skeleton team as a Cresta rider after just one day of training. At the 1982 World Championships in St. Moritz, he was placed second behind Gert Elsässer. This was followed in 1983 at the European Championships in Igls with a third place finish. In 1984 in Winterberg, 1985 in Sarajevo and 1986 in St. Moritz, he won the European Championship title.
He then switched to bobsleigh as a pilot. His best year was 1989, when he won Silver at the World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo in the four-man bobsleigh with his pushers Christian Reich, (who would later become a world-class bobsleigh pilot himself), Donat Acklin, and René Mangold, finishing behind the bob piloted by Gustav Weder (Gold), and ahead of Wolfgang Hoppe (Bronze). He finished third in both the overall two-man Bobsleigh World Cup and the combined two-man and four-man Bobsleigh World Cup in the 1988/89 season.
Nico Baracchi was a gifted athlete and, in addition to bobsleigh and skeleton, also excelled in alpine skiing, golf and many other sports.
SEPP BENZ
SEPP BENZ
* 20.05.1944
† 05.02.2021
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1976, 1980: 1 × Gold, 2 × Silver, 1 × Bronze
Bobsleigh World Championships 1975, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1981: 3 × Gold, 2 × Silver, 3 × Bronze
Swiss bobsleigh athlete, Olympic Champion, World Champion and Luge official
At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, he won the Silver medal in the four-man bobsleigh and the Bronze medal in the two-man bobsleigh with pilot Erich Schärer. Four years later, at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, he won the Gold medal in the two-man bobsleigh and another Silver in the four-man bobsleigh. Between 1975 and 1981, Benz won a total of three Gold medals, two Silver medals and three Bronze medals at Bobsleigh World Championships, all of them with his long-time team mate Erich Schärer. At the time, Benz was regarded as the ‘brakeman of the nation’ and ‘Switzerland’s fastest postman’.
After his bobsleigh career, he worked tirelessly for the sport of luge in Switzerland as an official of the SBSV (now Swiss Sliding). Together with the national coach at the time, Josef Lenz, he negotiated a training partnership agreement with the German Luge Federation, which is still in place today. He was also active for many years (1989 to 2014) with the International Luge Federation FIL (Fédération Internationale de Luge de Course). At the 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 Luge World Championships and at the 2010 and 2014 Winter Olympics, he served as the President of the Jury. From 2007 to 2014, as an Executive Member of the FIL, Benz held the position of Head of Sport and Chairman of the Sport Commission. He is considered one of the fathers of the Team Relay discipline, which was introduced in the 2010/11 season.
Benz died of COVID-19 on 5th February 2021 at the age of 76. A minute’s silence was held in his honour at the World Cup final of the 2020/21 season on the Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz-Celerina. He had campaigned for the final, which could not be held in China due to the COVID-19 pandemic, to take place in St. Moritz and would have been there as an SBSV official had it not been for his illness. The Sepp Benz Memorial Race on the Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz Celerina was created in his honour.
SILVIO GIOBELLINA
SILVIO GIOBELLINA
* 28.02.1954
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1984: Bronze in 4-man bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships: 1982 Gold and 1985 Silver in 4-man bobsleigh
Swiss bobsleigh athlete and aerodynamic bobsleigh designer
Before devoting himself entirely to bobsleigh in 1974, Giobellina was also active in cycling, swimming and skiing. In 1978, he made his first international appearance while making his Swiss bobsleigh debut, when he won the Bronze medal in the four-man bobsleigh at the European Junior Championships. He won his first senior Gold medal in 1982 with Rico Freiermuth, Urs Salzmann and Heinz Stettler at the Bobsleigh World Championships in St. Moritz. In the following years, he won Bronze (1983, 1988) and Gold (1984, 1985) twice in the four-man bobsleigh at the European Bobsleigh Championships. Giobellina also competed together with Freiermuth, Salzmann and Stettler at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, where they finished third behind the two GDR bobsleigh teams. Giobellina was also active in bobsleigh construction and made innovative modifications to the existing models, particularly in the development of aerodynamic bonnet construction for bobsleighs.
After the 1988 European Championships, Giobellina retired from bobsleighing, and worked as technical director for the French bobsleigh team until 1994. In 1999, he became manager of a toboggan park in his home village of Leysin.
HANS HILTEBRAND
HANS HILTEBRAND
* 18.01.1945
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Bobsleigh World Championships: 1977 Gold in 2-man bobsleigh, 1981 Silver in 4-man bobsleigh, 1982 and 1987 Silver in 2-man bobsleigh, 1987 Gold in 4-man bobsleigh
Swiss bobsleigh athlete, World Champion, coach and bobsleigh designer
Trained as an electrician, he started bobsleighing in 1970. In 1972, he won the European title in the four-man bobsleigh together with Herbert Ott and Rudolf Born as a team member of bobsleigh pilot Hansruedi Müller.
Starting in 1975, Hiltebrand became a bobsleigh pilot himself and took second place in the two-man bobsleigh at the 1975 Swiss Championships. His international breakthrough as a bobsleigh pilot came in 1977 when he won the World Championships in the two-man bobsleigh with Heinz Meier. Following his successes in 1972 and 1977, Hiltebrand won his third international title on the natural ice track in St. Moritz when he and Walter Rahm won the two-man bobsleigh at the 1980 European Bobsleigh Championships. The Swiss won all three medals in the four-man bobsleigh, with Hans Hiltebrand, Ulrich Schindler, Walter Rahm and Armin Baumgartner taking the Bronze medal behind the bobsleighs of Erich Schärer and Peter Schärer. At the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, Hiltebrand took fourth place in the two-man bobsleigh and sixth place in the four-man bobsleigh.
At the 1981 World Championships in the four-man bobsleigh in Cortina d’Ampezzo, Hiltebrand won the Silver medal with Kurt Poletti, Franz Weinberger and Franz Isenegger behind the GDR pilot Bernhard Germeshausen.
Following his active career, Hans Hiltebrand worked as a bobsleigh designer, and added to the wealth of experience he had acquired in earlier days. He used this expertise as a coach both at home and abroad, and for young talent in Switzerland. After winning everything but an Olympic medal in his active career, he succeeded as a coach: in 1998, his protégé Pierre Lueders won Olympic Gold in the two-man bobsleigh for Canada. Hiltebrand also coached the Canadian bobsleighers until 1999. In 2002 he took charge of the Swiss team and thereafter he served as a mentor, particularly in the promotion of young talent.
RALPH PICHLER
RALPH PICHLER
* 20.04.1954
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
World Championships 1983, 1986, 1987: 2 × Gold in 2-man bobsleigh, 1 × Silver in 2-man bobsleigh, 2 × Bronze in 4-man bobsleigh
Swiss bobsleigh athlete, World Champion
Pichler won a complete set of medals at the European Bobsleigh Championships within a period of five years, as well as two World Championship titles between 1983 and 1987. He also won one Silver and two Bronze medals at World Championships. In 1984, he took part in the Winter Olympics in Sarajevo with his team mate Rico Freiermuth. The team finished sixth.
Today, Pichler lives in Canada with his wife and their two children Yannick and Jarett.
EKKEHARD FASSER
EKKEHARD FASSER
* 03.09.1952
† 08.04.2021
Nation
Switzerland
Major successes
Olympic Winter Games 1988: Gold in 4-man bobsleigh
Bobsleigh World Championships 1983: Gold in 4-man bobsleigh
Swiss bobsleigh athlete, track and field athlete and board member of Swiss Sliding
In his youth, Fasser was a track and field athlete. In the 1970s, he competed in the high jump (best performance: 1.98 m), long jump (best performance: 6.94 m) and shot put (best performance: 7 ¼ kg; 14.52 m).
At the age of 26, Fasser switched to bobsleigh. As Ralph Pichler’s pusher, he won the Silver Medal at the Junior World Championships in Winterberg in 1978. In 1981, he was called up to the B squad of the Swiss national team. A year later, Fasser took part in his first races in the World Cup and the World Championships. In 1983, he won both the World and European Championship titles in the four-man bobsleigh with Hans Märchy, Kurt Poletti and Rolf Strittmatter. At the 1984 Winter Olympics, the quartet took fourth place in the four-man bobsleigh competition and in the 1985/86 World Cup season, his team won the four-man bobsleigh competition. At the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Fasser again competed in the four-man bobsleigh event with Kurt Meier, Marcel Fässler and Werner Stocker. After the first run, the Swiss bobsleigh was more than half a second behind in seventh place. But in the following two runs, Fasser produced two good runs and, thanks to a poor run by Wolfgang Hoppe from the GDR, the Swiss went into the final run with a lead of 0.16 seconds, defended their advantage and were crowned Olympic champions. After the competition, Fasser ended his career as a bobsledder.
Following his retirement, Fasser continued to be involved in bobsleigh and was Head of Finance at the Swiss Sliding Association from 2015 to 2019. Privately, Fasser worked as a self-employed construction manager and property manager.
In April 2021, Fasser died at the age of 68 after a short, serious illness.
ERMANNO GARDELLA
ERMANNO GARDELLA
* 11.04.1942
Nation
Italy
Great merits
Secretary General of the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation IBSF from 1971 to 2012.
Ermanno Gardella was Secretary General of the International Bobsleigh & Skeleton Federation IBSF (then FIBT / Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing) from 1971 to 2012. The Italian served under four presidents in the truest sense of the word and for 41 years – always discreetly in the background – skilfully guided the fortunes of the Olympic winter sports federation.
Gardella, who was appointed Secretary General in 1971 during the term of office of the Italian Dr Amilcare Rotta (FIBT President from 1960 – 1980), was always valued as a reliable partner by all national federations. In close cooperation with the German Klaus Kotter (FIBT President 1980 – 1994), Gardella made a significant contribution to keeping bobsleigh in the Olympic programme. His successes also include the inclusion of skeleton as an Olympic discipline (from 2002) during the term of office of the Canadian Robert F. Storey (FIBT President 1994 – 2010). Ermanno Gardella continues to be one of the Federation’s most valued mentors today. Despite his retirement in 2012, he has always remained connected to the sport of bobsleigh and skeleton, and as a result of his long tenure, holds a wealth of knowledge of the history of FIBT/IBSF, the international network and the development of sports equipment and facilities.
HANS BADRUTT
HANS BADRUTT
* 13.11.1876
† 06.02.1953
Nation
Switzerland
Great merits
Initiator and promotor of today’s Olympia Bob Run St. Moritz Celerina
Was also involved in the organisation of both the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics.
The initiator and patron of today’s Olympic Bob Run St. Moritz Celerina with its start in Kulmpark, ‘Hans’ Badrutt was also involved in the organisation of both the 1928 and 1948 Winter Olympics.
From 1904 to 1953 he was the Director of the family-owned Badrutt’s Palace Hotel, which he inherited from his father and hotel founder Caspar Badrutt.
Caspar Badrutt was President of the Board of Directors of the Kulm Hotel until his death, hence the connection to bobsleigh and the collaboration between the two hotels.
