The FIL Family mourns the death of Klaus Bonsack

Innsbruck (FIL/06.03.2023) On Sunday, March 5, 2023, Klaus Bonsack passed away in his adopted home Innsbruck at the age of 81. The FIL family mourns the loss of a committed official, successful head coach, member of the Hall of Fame of luge and one of the most successful former luge athletes.

At three Olympic Winter Games since the premiere of luge in 1964, Klaus Bonsack, who was born in Waltershausen in Thuringia, won four medals for the former GDR.

With four Olympic medals in 1992 in Albertville, he was the most successful head coach of the Austrian luge team at Olympic Games.

For 17 years (from 1981 to 1998) Klaus Bonsack was active in FIL functions. The man from Thuringia served as Technical Delegate for the FIL. At the 29th FIL Congress in Hammarstrand (SWE) in 1981, he was elected to the Technical Commission. In 1985 Bonsack was elected second vice president, in 1989 vice president for technology and in 1994 commission chairman of the Technical Commission. His term of office ended in 1998.

The East-German was among the most successful luge athletes in the world and was one of the first three members to be inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Luge Federation, FIL, in 2004.

Bonsack's greatest successes included: 1964 Olympic silver medal in Innsbruck (AUT) in Men’s singles, 1967 World Champion in Doubles, 1968 Olympic Champion in Grenoble (FRA) in Men’s doubles and bronze medal in singles, and bronze medal in doubles at the 1972 Olympic Winter Games in Sapporo (JPN).

"With deepest sympathy towards his wife and two children and best memories of an extraordinary personality, the FIL family mourns the passing of Klaus Bonsack. We will forever keep him in our best memories," said FIL President Einars Fogelis.