Jānis Ķipurs

Jānis Ķipurs was one of the best Soviet/Latvian bobsleigh pilots of the 80s along with Zintis Ekmanis. The high point of his career was at the 1988 Winter Olympics where he piloted the Soviet teams to gold in the 2-man event and bronze in the 4-man event. He also won a bronze at the 1989 World Championships with brakeman Aldis Intlers, was 1984 European Champion with Aivars Šnepsts, and won silver at the 1987 European Championships with Vladimir Aleksandrov, all in the 2-man event. Ķipurs won gold in the 2-man event and silver in the combined event at the 1988-89 World Cup. He was Soviet champion in the 2-man event in 1982-83 and in the 4-man event in 1986 and won the Latvian SSR Championships in the 2-man event in 1984-85 and 1987. In 1988 Ķipurs was selected as Latvian Athlete of the Year. After his sporting career, he worked as a bobsledding coach. In 1993-95 and 1997-2002 Kipurs was a coach with the Swiss national bobsleigh team, while in 1996 he was coach of the United States national team, moving to the French national team in 2003.