Bodo Bockenauer (born 22 December 1940) is a German former

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. He is a two-time

Blue Swords Blue Swords (german: Pokal der Blauen Schwerter) is an international figure skating competition organized by the Deutsche Eislauf-Union. It is usually held in Chemnitz, Saxony, Germany. Medals are awarded in the disciplines of men's singles, ladi ...

champion, a three-time East German national champion, and represented the United Team of Germany at the

1960 Winter Olympics The 1960 Winter Olympics (officially the VIII Olympic Winter Games and also known as Squaw Valley 1960) were a winter multi-sport event held from February 18 to 28, 1960, at the Squaw Valley Resort (now known as Palisades Tahoe) in Squaw Vall ...

, finishing 16th. His best ISU Championship result, sixth, came at the 1962 European Championships.

Career

Coached by

Inge Wischnewski Inge Wischnewski, née Kabisch, (2 March 1930 – 11 July 2010) was a German figure skater and figure skating coach. She was a four-time East German national champion. Career Inge Kabisch won the East German national title four times, always bea ...

, Bockenauer trained at SC Dynamo Berlin and represented

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

internationally for most of his competitive career. At the

in Squaw Valley, California, he competed as part of the United Team of Germany and finished 16th. Bockenauer's best season was 1961–62. After winning the 1961

and his third national title, he placed sixth at the 1962 European Championships in

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and 11th at the 1962 World Championships in

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

. He repeated as Blue Swords champion the following season. Bockenauer defected to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

on 20 December 1963 in

West Berlin West Berlin (german: Berlin (West) or , ) was a political enclave which comprised the western part of Berlin during the years of the Cold War. Although West Berlin was de jure not part of West Germany, lacked any sovereignty, and was under mi ...

, soon after arriving at a qualifying competition for the German unified team to the 1964 Olympics. Though he originally intended to join an ice show, he eventually began competing for West Germany. After winning the national silver medal, he was sent to the 1966 World Championships and finished 20th. In 1968, he began coaching at SC Küsnacht in Switzerland.

Competitive highlights

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bockenauer, Bodo 1940 births German male single skaters Living people Figure skaters at the 1960 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters for the United Team of Germany Figure skaters from Berlin East German defectors