Jan Hoffmann

Jan Hoffmann
Jan Hoffmann in 1975
Full name	Jan Hoffmann
Born	(1955-10-26) 26 October 1955 (age 68) Dresden
Height	1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Figure skating career
Country	East Germany
Skating club	SC Einheit Dresden
Medal record Representing  East Germany Figure skating: Men's singles Winter Olympics 1980 Lake Placid Men's singles World Championships 1980 Dortmund Men's singles 1979 Vienna Men's singles 1978 Ottawa Men's singles 1977 Tokyo Men's singles 1976 Gothenburg Men's singles 1974 Munich Men's singles 1973 Bratislava Men's singles European Championships 1980 Gothenburg Men's singles 1979 Zagreb Men's singles 1978 Strasbourg Men's singles 1977 Helsinki Men's singles 1976 Geneva Men's singles 1974 Zagreb Men's singles 1973 Cologne Men's singles

Jan Hoffmann (born 26 October 1955) is a German figure skater who represented East Germany in competition. A four-time Olympian, he is the 1980 Olympic silver medalist, the 1974 & 1980 World Champion, and a four-time (1974, 1977–1979) European Champion.

Personal life

Jan Hoffmann was born on 26 October 1955 in Dresden, East Germany.^[1] He is married and has one daughter.

Career

Competitive

Hoffmann's first coach was Annemarie Halbach in Dresden. He later switched to Jutta Müller in Karl-Marx-Stadt (today Chemnitz). He represented the former East Germany in competition. He was one of a handful of figure skaters who rotated clockwise, landing on his left foot.

At the age of 12, Hoffmann competed at the 1968 Winter Olympics in Grenoble and placed 26th. He finished sixth at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo, having ranked fourth in figures and tenth in the free skate.

Hoffmann's first gold medal at an ISU Championship came at the 1974 European Championships in Zagreb, where he defeated Sergey Volkov of the Soviet Union and John Curry of the United Kingdom. At the 1974 World Championships in Munich, he placed first in figures, second in the short program, and fifth in the free skate. Technically gifted, he landed a triple Lutz in the free skate, the most difficult triple jump done at the time.^[2] Finishing ahead of Volkov and Canada's Toller Cranston, he stood atop the world podium for the first time. Later that year, he injured his knee on the trampoline.^[3] He had surgery on his meniscus and subsequently missed the entire 1974–75 season.

Hoffmann finished fourth at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck after placing fourth in figures, ninth in the short program, and fifth in the free skate.

At the 1979 European Championships in Zagreb, Hoffmann finished ahead of the Soviet Union's Vladimir Kovalyov and the United Kingdom's Robin Cousins to win his fourth continental title. He took bronze behind the same skaters at the 1979 World Championships in Vienna.

In January 1980, Hoffmann placed second to Cousins at the European Championships in Gothenburg. The 1980 Winter Olympics took place in February in Lake Placid, New York. In his fourth Olympics, Hoffmann ranked first in figures, second in the short, and second in the free, winning the silver medal behind Cousins and ahead of Charles Tickner of the United States. At these Games, he became the first man to land a triple lutz jump in the Olympics.^[4] He ended his amateur career in March at the 1980 World Championships in Dortmund. Ranked first in figures and second in the next two segments, he finished ahead of Cousins and Tickner and was awarded his second World title.

Post-competitive

Hoffmann studied medicine and became an orthopaedic specialist. He served on the managing board of the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and has appeared as a figure skating judge. He judged the ladies' event at the 1994 Winter Olympics and was one of five judges who placed Oksana Baiul ahead of Nancy Kerrigan. Hoffman also judged the ladies competition at the 1998 Winter Olympics and gave his first-place ordinal to Michelle Kwan.

Results

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Jan Hoffmann.

• Scott Hamilton, Landing It. ISBN 1-57566-466-6.

This page was last edited on 24 February 2024, at 18:47