He began gymnastics training at the age of five. Beginning in 1976, he trained with the SC Dynamo Berlin. His younger brother Ulf Hoffmann was likewise an Olympic gymnast.[1] In their youth, they shared a boarding school room during their time with SC Synamo Berlin.
Career
In 1979 Hoffmann became GDR champion in the floor exercise and finished second in the vault. At the world championships in the same year his team finished fourth. Next year they won a silver medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. At those games, Hoffmann was seventh all-around and sixth on the floor.[1] He won a bronze medal in the parallel bars at the 1981 European championships.[2]
Later life and death
After retiring from competitions he worked as gymnastics coach and then became a teacher in Bad Sachsa, Germany, where he committed suicide in 1997.[1]
