Sigi's peaks: Fatal records

Sigi Heinrich

I am a regular viewer of as many news channels as possible, and not just for professional reasons. Cross bed. Germany, Austria, Switzerland, South Tyrol. I get stressed about making a decision when everyone suddenly delivers the latest news from all over the world at 20 p.m., the most popular broadcast time. I'll try “zapping” too. So I switch from one channel to the other during a relatively short period of time. And lo and behold: there are numbers waiting for me everywhere that now seem to be taken for granted. Death figures. Before Corona, people also died. This was not included in news broadcasts at the time. Now the quality of our lives essentially depends on the death rates (“in connection with Corona”). Less or even more lockdown. Germany is currently recording a new record with 426 deaths. That's the terminology. Record. I used to only mean records by this, primarily in sports. Now it has taken on a completely fatal meaning. And then the next message comes, usually again in connection with Corona. I find myself accepting news of death with much less dismay now than I used to. Corona has made dying in the news normal. Diego Maradona, known as El Pibe de Oro (“the golden boy”) is dead. © APA/afp / FILIPPO MONTEFORTE

And then Diego Maradona dies and it seems as if he is the only person on earth whose loan contract with life has now expired. He is given three days of national mourning and we find out who embalmed him, where he will be buried and are presented with all the details of his entire life, including his death. There certainly wasn't much missing and a Maradona extra would have been added to the news. Would probably even have happened without Corona. All the others who had to say goodbye to life have disappeared into the numbers. Even Karl Dall, who entertained us for so many hours with his special humor, was not in the news for long after his death. Corona has also prevented a more intensive appreciation of his work. That's how it is in these times.

And yet I realize: Fortunately, I am not yet immune to this reporting these days. The horrendous numbers didn't get the better of my feelings. It was close to me when I came from Death of Valerio Ghirardi have experienced. Isolde Kostner's successful Italian coach is only 58 years old. And I immediately saw him in my mind with his long coat and his sunglasses. He seemed like a tree that could never be felled when he explained the best line to his protégés while inspecting the route. He was part of the ski family. He was just part of it. When I was still commentating on Alpine races, when I wanted to orientate myself on the slope, I looked for Valerio. (In SportNews his life is illuminated again). Or Doris De Agostini. I never personally met the Swiss woman, who only lived to be 62 years old, but when I became involved in the ski circus in 1985, I kept hearing her name in the evening rounds with experienced and older colleagues. They raved about her, yes they loved the Ticino woman. And not just the Swiss journalists. This impressed me and also had a lasting impact on my international perspective.

In the next few weeks I will be flooded with numbers again. I am aware of that. But I will remember that behind every number there is a mostly unknown fate.

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Sigi's peaks: Fatal records

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