Petermann named new German track coach

Andreas Petermanmn has been named new coach for the German national track team endurance disciplines and the Under 23 team. He replaces Uwe Freese, who was released after the German pursuit team did poorly in the Manchester World Championshps and missed the Olympic Games qualification for the first time since 1952.

The 51 year-old signed a contract through the end of 2012, and said that his goal was a medal in the pursuit in that year's London Olympics.

"I am looking forward to taking on this responsible position," he said on the website of the German cycling federation, the Bund Deutscher Radfahrer.

Petermanmn rode for many years for the East German national team and twice finished fifth in the World's road race, in 1979 and 1982. He won the world title in 1979 with the East German four man team.

After retiring from riding, he lectured at the Deutschen Hochschule Korperkultur in Leipzig, Germany. From 1986 to 1994 he worked for the IAT, an Olympic training center, where he was involved in developing training methods for track cyclists. He was national triathlon coach from 1995 to 2000, and also served as a directeur sportif at the professional cycling teams Coast, Bianchi and Wiesenhof.