Germany's Lange devours competition in 2-man bobsleigh

Athlete nicknamed Little Bear is 4-for-4 in Olympic competition

Last Updated: Monday, February 22, 2010 | 2:21 AM ET

By Mihira Lakshman, CBC Sports

Germany-1 pilot Andre Lange, right, and brakeman Kevin Kuske celebrate their gold-medal win on Sunday. (Michael Sohn/Associated Press)

Four Olympic races. Four gold medals for German bobsleigh driver Andre Lange.

He became the first driver in Olympic history to win four golds, after piloting the Germany-1 sled to victory with brakeman Kevin Kukse on Sunday.

The driver, who has been nicknamed Barchen — or Little Bear, in English — by his German teammates, feared he would spend the winter in hibernation, after struggling through the World Cup season in 2008-09.

Lange and Kukse had multiple injuries, and equipment problems, leading to a disappointing fifth-place finish at the 2009 world championships in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Competing without Kukse for a few World Cup races was especially difficult, since the brakeman has been a part of Lange's crew for each of his four gold-medal victories.

But the tandem rebounded with a strong start to the 2009-10 season, and both will be part of the German-1 sled going for gold in the four-man competition later at the Vancouver Games.

'Andre is the great one'

Lange's record speaks for itself, but his demeanour has also earned him a reputation around the track. He's a fiery, intense competitor, focused on one objective — winning.

"Andre is the great one," Canadian boblseigh driver Lyndon Rush said. "They say the cream rises to the top — Andre Lange is the cream."

Perhaps the immense competition to earn the No. 1 spot in his own country has fuelled Lange's drive. The sliding sports account for almost half of all German medals in their Winter Olympic history.

Canadian luge head coach Wolfgang Staudingerv, who grew up in Germany, said sliding is to Germany what hockey is to Canada.

"The Germans are each other's biggest rivals," Rush said in a Globe and Mail article earlier in the Games. "I mean, they go crazy when they beat each other. They don't even try to hide it."

That competitiveness is working wonders for Lange and the German bobsleigh program. In Vancouver, the Germany-2 sled took the silver, just 16-100ths of a second behind Germany-1.

Lange's Olympic bobsleigh career has been nothing short of perfect, beginning with a four-man gold in 2002, a two-man gold and a four-man gold in 2006, and now at least one gold in 2010.

But when Lange first took an interest in sliding down a steep icy track, it wasn't at the front of a bobsleigh; it was flat on his back on a luge sled.

He started competing in luge when he was just eight years old, but by the time he was 20, the ambitious Lange had determined that he would never be the best in the world at the sport, so he switched to bobsleigh.

Lange was a quick study in his new sport, winning the world junior title in the four-man competition.

Overcomes controversy

While Lange has earned the respect of his peers, he hasn't always been able to steer clear of controversy.

At the 2006 Torino Games, he was dogged by allegations of cheating. There were accusations that he heated up the runners on his sled so it would slide quicker down the track.

Canadian pilot Pierre Lueders threw fuel on the fire.

"I've been sledding for 16 years and my coach has been involved in bobsled for 20 years. We've never seen stuff like that," Lueders said at the time.

"We're not stupid. If that's how they want to play it, whatever."

Nothing was ever proven, and Lange maintains his innocence. Thanks to its success at the Whistler Sliding Centre, Germany has already matched its best Games in the sliding sports with nine medals.

That total is likely to grow, along with the legend of Lange, who is already being regarded as a national hero, along with former Olympian Wolfgang Hoppe — a six-time medallist, considered to be Germany's best-ever bobsleigh driver.

But remember, Lange, still isn't done competing.

"The man is a great driver," USA-2 driver John Napier said.

"He's a great champion. He's very humble. He has great skills. He's got a great push with Kuske behind him, and he's got great equipment. He's a true champion, and I aspire someday to be like him."