Ulrich Wehling

At the age of 19, Wehling participated in the 1972 Olympic Games in Sapporo, Japan, in the Nordic Combined event, which consists of two ski jumps and a 15km race. A self-proclaimed "nobody," he went on to win the gold medal in the Nordic Combined with a total point score of 413.340. Wehling was said to have "stolen" the gold medal from the Finnish star Rauno Miettinen, who had nearly secured his place as best in the Nordic Combined. Two years later in 1974, Wehling won the Nordic Combined world championship title.

At the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, he again won the gold in the Nordic Combined with points totaling 423.39, a sizable margin from his closest competitor. His performance in the event was dominated by the jumping competition. Wehling was not known for being the fastest skier in the 15km race at the Olympics. To assure his victory, he needed to build a tremendous lead during the ski-jumping portion of the combined.

In 1980 at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, Wehling defeated his countryman Uwe Dotzauer to

Ulrich Wehling

earn the gold medal in the Nordic Combined with 432.200 points. Said to perform his best under stress, he accomplished this feat despite surgery on his shoulder and hamstring. Wehling became the first male competitor, who was not a figure skater, to win three consecutive gold medals in the same individual Winter Olympic event.