Jan Hoffmann

Jan Hoffmann is a German figure skater who competed for East Germany, born on 26 October 1955 in Dresden. He won the World Championships in 1974 and 1980 and was European champion four times, in 1974 and from 1977 to 1979, and he took the silver medal behind Robin Cousins at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. He skated at four Olympic Games, placing 26th in 1968 at the age of twelve, sixth in 1972 and fourth in 1976. Coached first by Annemarie Halbach in Dresden and then by Jutta Müller in Karl-Marx-Stadt, he was one of a handful of skaters who rotated clockwise, landing on the left foot, and at the 1974 Worlds he landed a triple Lutz in his free skate, the most difficult triple jump done at the time. After his amateur career he studied medicine, became an orthopaedic specialist, served on the managing board of the Deutsche Eislauf-Union and judged the ladies' events at the 1994 and 1998 Winter Olympics.