Joseph "Josef or Sepp" Benz (born May 20, 1944) is a Swiss bobsledder who competed from the mid 1970s to the early 1980s. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won four medals with one gold (Two-man: 1980), two silvers (Four-man: 1976, 1980), and one bronze (Two-man: 1976). Benz also won eight medals at the FIBT World Championships with three golds (Two-man: 1978, 1979; Four-man: 1981), two silvers (Four-man: 1977, 1978), and three bronzes (Two-man: 1981, Four-man: 1979, 1981). In 2008, he was named chairman of the Sport Commission for artificial track luge for the International Luge Federation (FIL). Benz also competed in athletics and was a postal clerk in his native Switzerland. He served as chairman of the FIL Youth Commission before serving his current FIL position. [edit] References | World champions in four-man bobsleigh | | 1930: Italy ( Franco Zaninetta, Giorgio Biasini, Antonio Dorini, & Gino Rossi) * 1931: Germany ( Werner Zahn, Robert Schmidt, Franz Bock, & Emil Hinterfeld) * 1933: Not held * 1934: Germany ( Hanns Kilian, Fritz Schwarz, Hermann von Valta, & Sebastian Huber) * 1935: Germany ( Hanns Kilian, Alexander Gruber, Hermann von Valta, & Sebastian Huber) * 1937: Great Britain ( Frederick McEvoy, David Looker, Charles Green, & Byran Black) * 1938: Great Britain ( Frederick McEvoy, David Looker, Charles Green, & Chris MacKintosh) * 1939: Switzerland ( Fritz Feierabend, Heinz Cattani, Alphonse Hörning, & Joseph Beerli) * 1947: Switzerland ( Fritz Feierabend, Heinz Cattani, Alphonse Hörning, & Joseph Beerli) * 1949: United States ( Stanley Benham, Patrick Martin, William Casey, & William D'Amico) * 1950: United States ( Stanley Benham, Patrick Martin, James Atkinson, & William D'Amico) * 1951: West Germany ( Andreas Ostler, Xavier Leitl, Michael Pössinger, & Lorenz Nieberl) * 1953: United States ( Lloyd Johnson, Piet Biesiadecki, Hubert Miller, & Joseph Smith) * 1954: Switzerland ( Fritz Feierabend, Harry Warburton, Gottfried Diener, & Heinrich Angst) * 1955: Switzerland ( Franz Kapus, Gottfried Diener, Robert Alt, & Heinrich Angst) * 1957: Switzerland ( Hans Zoller, Hans Theler, Rolf Küderli, & Heinz Leu) * 1958: West Germany ( Hans Rösch, Alfred Hammer, Theodore Bauer, & Walter Haller) * 1959: United States ( Arthur Tyler, Gary Sheffield, Parker Voorhis, & Thomas Butler) * 1960: Italy ( Eugenio Monti, Furio Nordio, Sergio Siorpaes, & Renzo Alverà) * 1961: Italy ( Eugenio Monti, Sergio Siorpaes, Furio Nordio, & Renzo Alverà) * 1962: West Germany ( Franz Schelle, Josef Sterff, Ludwig Siebert, & Otto Göbl) * 1963: Italy ( Sergio Zardini, Ferruccio Dalla Torre, Renato Mocellini, & Romano Bonagura) * 1965: Canada ( Vic Emery, Gerald Presley, Michael Young, & Peter Kirby) * 1966: West Germany ( Toni Pensperger (posthumous), Ludwig Siebert, Helmut Werzer, & Roland Ebert) * 1967: Cancelled to weather conditions * 1969: West Germany ( Wolfgang Zimmerer, Peter Utzschneider, Walter Steinbauer, & Stefan Gaisreiter) * 1970: Italy ( Nevio de Zordo, Roberto Zandonella, Mario Armano, & Luciano de Paolis) * 1971: Switzerland ( René Stadler, Max Forster, Erich Schärer, & Peter Schärer) * 1973: Switzerland ( René Stadler, Werner Carmichel, Erich Schärer, & Peter Schärer) * 1974: West Germany ( Wolfgang Zimmerer, Peter Utzschneider, Manfred Schumann, & Albert Wurzer) * 1975: Switzerland ( Erich Schärer, Peter Schärer, Werner Carmichel, & Joseph Benz) * 1977: East Germany ( Meinhard Nehmer, Bernhard Germeshausen, Hans-Jürgen Gerhardt, & Raimund Bethge) * 1978: East Germany ( Horst Schönau, Horst Bernhard, Harald Seifert, & Bogdan Musiol) * 1979: West Germany ( Stefan Gaisreiter, Dieter Gebard, Hans Wagner, & Heinz Busche) * 1981: East Germany ( Bernhard Germeshausen, Hans-Jürgen Gerhardt, Henry Gerlach, & Michael Trübner) * 1982: Switzerland ( Silvio Giobellina, Heinz Stettler, Urs Salzmann, & Rico Freiermuth) * 1983: Switzerland ( Ekkehard Fasser, Hans Märcy, Kurt Poletti, & Rolf Strittmatter) * 1985: East Germany ( Bernhard Lehmann, Matthias Trübner, Ingo Voge, & Steffen Grummt) * 1986: Switzerland ( Erich Schärer, Kurt Meier, Erwin Fassbind, & André Kisser) * 1987: Switzerland ( Hans Hiltebrand, Urs Fehlmann, Erwin Fassbind, & André Kisser) * 1989: Switzerland ( Gustav Weder, Curdin Morell, Bruno Gerber, & Lorenz Schindelholz) * 1990: Switzerland ( Gustav Weder, Bruno Gerber, Lorenz Schindelholz, & Curdin Morell) * 1991: Germany ( Wolfgang Hoppe, Bogdan Musiol, Axel Kühn, & Christoph Langen) * 1993: Switzerland ( Gustav Weder, Donat Acklin, Kurt Meier, & Domenico Semeraro) * 1995: Germany ( Wolfgang Hoppe, Rene Hannemann, Ulf Hielscher, & Carsten Embach) * 1996: Germany ( Christoph Langen, Markus Zimmermann, Sven Rühr, & Olaf Hampel) * 1997: Germany ( Wolfgang Hoppe, Sven Rühr, Rene Hannemann, & Carsten Embach) * 1999: France ( Bruno Mingeon, Emmanuel Hostache, Éric Le Chanony, & Max Robert) * 2000: Germany ( André Lange, René Hoppe, Lars Behrendt, & Carsten Embach) * 2001: Germany ( Christoph Langen, Markus Zimmermann, Sven Peter, & Alex Metzger) * 2003: Germany ( André Lange, René Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, & Carsten Embach) * 2004: Germany ( André Lange, Udo Lehmann, Kevin Kuske, & René Hoppe) * 2005: Germany ( André Lange, René Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, & Martin Putze) * 2007: Switzerland ( Ivo Rüegg, Thomas Lamparter, Beat Hefti, & Cedric Grand) * 2008: Germany ( André Lange, René Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, & Martin Putze) * 2009: United States ( Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, & Curtis Tomasevicz) | | |
