Wehling, Ulrich

▪ German skier

born July 8, 1952, East Germany

      German skier who was the only three-time winner of the Nordic combined (two ski jumps totaled, plus a 15-km race) in Olympic history. In doing so, he was the first male competitor who was not a figure skater to win three consecutive gold medals in the same individual Winter Olympic event. In addition to his Olympic success, Wehling won the Nordic combined world championship title in 1974.

      Only 19 years old when he arrived at the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan, Wehling easily triumphed over a field that included the defending Olympic champion Franz Keller of West Germany. At the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, Wehling again won the gold medal by a sizable margin. In none of his Olympic victories was he the fastest competitor in the 15-km race, so it was often necessary that he build an insurmountable lead during the ski-jumping competition. He did exactly that at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, U.S. There he defeated, among others, his favoured countryman Uwe Dotzauer. Wehling retired from competitive athletics immediately following his third Olympic victory.

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