Twice as nice
Lange won both men's gold medals in Torino, becoming just the fifth driver to win two-man and four-man gold at the same Games and the third athlete (and second driver) to win three career bobsled gold medals. He also became just the third driver to defend a four-man bobsled title and - with Sandra Kiriasis's gold in the women's event - Germany became the first nation to sweep all three bobsled golds at a single Games. "I think the German team is really a German team," Lange said afterwards. "It works together very well, both men and female." In Vancouver, Lange could become the first athlete ever to win four Olympic gold medals in his sport.
2009 troubles
Lange calls the 2008-09 season one of the most difficult parts of his life. He says he struggled with multiple injuries to his crew and equipment problems. Lange was using new sleds and his primary brakeman, Kevin Kuske (who has been in all three of his Olympic gold medal-winning sleds), was injured for much of season. A relieved Lange finally had his full four-man crew back for the 2009 World Championships in Lake Placid, N.Y., where they posted a silver medal showing. He and Kuske finished fifth in two-man, a result Lange called disappointing, but he noted that Kuske had not yet returned to top form. After the event, Lange said he was happy to put the season behind him, especially after finishing second in four-man, where he has won the world title five times. Still, with the silver came some history. Lange brought his career world and Olympic medal total to 17, surpassing Italian legend Eugenio Monti's all-time mark by one.
Top form
The 2007-08 season was one of the most successful of Lange's impressive career - he won the overall World Cup crown for the fourth time and claimed both the two- and four-man titles at the World Championships. The four-man win was a redemption of sorts. Beginning with the gold medal he won in his Olympic debut at the Salt Lake Games, Lange won every major four-man championship between 2002 and 2006, before relinquishing the world title to Switzerland's Ivo Rueegg in 2007.
Quick starter
Lange's athletic career began in the sport of luge, which he started at age eight. By 1993, he says, Lange realized he would never succeed at the international level, so he switched to bobsled. He picked up the new sport quickly and in 1998 won the junior world title in four-man. "I worked very hard," Lange says, "But I didn't expect to have the speed come so fast." Later that year he won his first World Cup race, a four-man event at Calgary Olympic Park, and his career took off from there. Lange firmly announced himself at the 2000 World Championships, winning gold in four-man and silver in two-man.
Family man
Lange trains in Oberhof, located in northern Germany, about 115 miles northwest of Berlin. "The people there are very professional," Lange says. "It helps to have support from experienced people." He lives in nearby Suhl with his wife, daughter and son. Lange says he spends his limited leisure time taking care of the children and working around the house.
