Olympic journey through time – today: February 21th

What the Czech Esther Ledecka is aiming for in Pyeongchang, namely winning two Olympic medals in different sports (alpine skiing and snowboarding), was achieved by a South Tyrolean twelve years ago, although Gerda Weißensteiner also needed twelve years for it and not like Ledecka only a few days.

Bronze in the two-man bobsleigh in 2006 At the age of 37, the Steinegger woman won the bronze medal in the two-man bobsleigh at the Winter Games in Turin on February 21, 2006 together with her pusher Jennifer Isacco. Only the German sled of Kiriasis/Schneiderheinze and the US duo Rohbock/Fleming were faster than Weißensteiner and her partner from Como.

Twelve years earlier, in 1994 at the Lillehammer Winter Games, Gerda Weißensteiner had won Olympic gold in single-seater tobogganing. In the “autumn” of her career, Weißensteiner decided to change sports, but to remain loyal to the ice track and become a bobsledder. First Olympic bobsleigh start with Olympic cycling champion Bellutti The first attempt in the new “dress” was rather unsuccessful at the Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002 and ended with 7th place. What was special at the time, however, was Weißensteiner’s partner. The summer Olympic champion Antonella Bellutti was responsible for pushing. Winning a Winter Olympic medal would have been something very special for the cyclist from Bolzano. But it didn't want to happen, and so Weißensteiner/Bellutti had to settle for seventh place.

Four years later, things went much better with the sprinter Jennifer Isacco from Como. For Weißensteiner, the Turin Winter Games were the 6th of her career - four as a luger, two as a bobsledder. Weißensteiner was then so thrilled to have won the medal she longed for that she decided that the race in Turin would be her last.

Here is a video document of Gerda Weißensteiner's medal run from 2006.

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Olympic journey through time – today: February 21th

Day after day, during the Pyeongchang Games, “SportNews” looks back at South Tyrolean Olympic highlights that happened on that day at some point in the past. This time it's February 21th.

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