Olympic luge gold medallist Tatjana Hüfner has taken a coaching role in Italy ©Getty Images

Olympic luge gold medallist Tatjana Hüfner has taken a coaching role in Italy.

The German will support South Tyrolean athletes and focus on starting technique.

Hüfner won the singles title at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics as well as silver at Sochi 2014 and bronze at Turin 2006.

She also won eight World Championship gold medals and the overall Luge World Cup title five times before retiring last year.

Legendary Italian luger Armin Zöggeler, now the sports director of the Italian team, is pleased to welcome the 37-year-old Hüfner to the set-up.

Tatjana Hüfner won every major luge title and has a full set of Olympic medals ©Getty Images
Tatjana Hüfner won every major luge title and has a full set of Olympic medals ©Getty Images

"The cooperation with Tatjana is still quite new," the double Olympic gold medallist said.

"However, I am very confident that we will be able to achieve new impulses for the development of our starting performance in the long run through her support." 

Hüfner also won two European titles during her career.

In 2008 she became the first woman to win five Luge World Cup races in a row.