Klaus Dibiasi, the blonde angel in Olympic heaven

Klaus Dibiasi, one of the world's best divers of all time, will be the starting runner. Dibiasi, born on October 6, 1947 in Hall, revolutionized the sport of tower and board. His star rose at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and he won gold at the three M Games in Mexico, Munich and Montreal. Klaus Dibiasi, highly decorated and represented on many international committees, has lived in Rome with his wife, the former diver Laura Schermi, for many years. Their daughter Elisa (29) is – of course – also a water sports enthusiast: she runs a surfing school in Portugal.

“In a month I’ll be almost like new again,” laughs Klaus Dibiasi (74). At the end of December 2020, the former South Tyrolean Olympic series winner had a new hip inserted. Dibiasi has lived in Rome with his wife, Laura Schermi, for many years. They have a daughter together. Elisa (29) lives in Ericeira, Portugal, is a photographer and runs the “Surfhouse”. After his long, illustrious career on gymnastics and board, Klaus Dibiasi followed in the footsteps of his legendary father Karl and looked after Italy's diving team for a dozen years. He led Italy's Olympians until 1996, but today he is no longer standing at the edge of the pool. Klaus Dibiasi is a respected member of the Technical Commission for Diving in the LEN (European Swimming League) and in the FINA (World Water Sports Association) and since 1981 he has been “enthroned” as an icon in the “Hall fo Fame”, the so-called “Hall of Fame of the International Water Sports”, in Fort Lauderdale (Florida). Klaus Dibiasi is represented on many international committees.

At the beginning of this journalistic nod to the now somewhat aging “blonde angel” of South Tyrolean sport, a little test of knowledge. Klaus Dibiasi was the hero of generations of visitors to the Bozen Lido. Many people suspected that he would go down in the sporting history of South Tyrol (and the world). But Klaus Dibiasi was not a shooting star that burned out, but a star that outshone everything for many years. This is precisely why South Tyrol is proud of one of its most successful athletes of all time. Did you know that Karl Dibiasi was an Olympian in Berlin in 1936? Dibiasi's father was born in Aldeiner. His son Klaus was born on October 6, 1947 in Solbad Hall in Tyrol. Klaus has two siblings: his brother (and geometer) Heinz, who lives in Bozen, and his sister Christl (widow Kemenater), who lives in Burghausen in Bavaria, a former and extremely successful competitive swimmer from “Bolzano Nuoto”. Did you know that Klaus' star rose at the Mediterranean Games in 1963? As a 15-year-old he won his first gold medal in Naples. A year later, the whole of South Tyrol was sitting in front of the TV sets when high diving was broadcast from Tokyo in 1964: The quiet boy from Bolzano won Olympic silver behind the American Robert Webster, ahead of another American (Tom Gompf). Did you know that he carried the flag with the 2006 rings into the stadium at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics in Turin in 5? Incidentally, Klaus Dibiasi took part in a total of 12 Olympic Games, 4 times as an athlete and 8 times as a coach or official. Klaus Dibiasi was the flag bearer for the “Azzurri” team at the opening ceremony of the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal.

Dibiasi was showered with superlatives during his playing days. He enchanted the spectators and was the best ambassador for diving. The undoubtedly most remarkable sentence about him was said by his long-time rival and best friend, Giorgio Cagnotto, Tania's father, originally from Turin: “Diving before Klaus' time was something banal. Klaus radically changed this sport, just as the Beatles had a lasting impact on music.” And it is on record that Dibiasi is happy to return the compliment: “Giorgio Cagnotto was not only the opponent of my life, but is also still my best friend today, after so many years. I shared everything with him, training, successes, joys and disappointments. Without always having my friend as a critical measure, who was almost equal in all competitions, I don't know whether I would have been as successful. One was always there for the other. “We supported each other, especially during the often extremely hard training phases.” Klaus Dibiasi has lived in Rome with his wife for many years.

Between his first major victory in 1963 in Naples (Mediterranean Games) and his last Olympic gold triumph in 1976 in Montreal, model athlete Klaus Dibiasi won almost everything there was to win in his sport. And he set records that remain unbroken. He is the only diver in the world to win in the same discipline in three consecutive Olympics. The golden shower from the tower began in Mexico in 1968 (he also won silver in diving from the 3-meter board). In the other “M” games, 1972 in Munich and 1976 in Montreal, he won further gold in high diving. In Canada he experienced his last major appearance, in 1977 Klaus Dibiasi moved to the supervisory staff and official staff of the Italian Swimming Federation. He was then coach of the Olympic team in 4 editions of the Games, in Moscow (1980), in Los Angeles (1984), in Seoul (1988), and in Atlanta (1996), team leader in Athens (2004) and in Beijing (2008) , was head of the delegation in London in 2012 and a member of the global water sports association FINA in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. World Cup medals and other major titles In his many years as a silent yet dazzling and probably the best diver of all time, he won two golds and two silvers at world championships (1973 in Belgrade and 1975 in Cali) and became European champion three times (1966 in Utrecht, 1970 in Barcelona and 1974 in Vienna ) and twice vice. The impressive haul of Klaus Dibiasi, who remained modest, even shy and reserved despite all his triumphs, is “rounded off” by 13 Italian championship titles from the tower and 5 championship titles from the board (from 1963 to 1976), 11 indoor championship titles (between 1966 and 1975 ), as well as 7 European Cup victories (between 1965 and 1975) and a dozen successes at the Bolzano jumper meeting.

His toughest international opponent is the American Greg Louganis, who was born in Samoa and descended from Greek parents. He was 13 years younger than Klaus and became his (worthy) successor. Dibiasi remembers: “My best victory? I knew: Montreal, 1976, that would be my last Olympics. I had tendon and elbow pain. But I really wanted to beat the impetuous Louganis. He was 16 years young and full of energy. He still had so much time ahead of him and had to wait. I was motivated to the core and put on a perfect competition. It was just beautiful.”

On December 18, 1989, Klaus Dibiasi married his long-time girlfriend Laura Schermi in Rome. She is a 5-time Italian champion (4 titles from the board, one from the rook). Elisa was born 29 years ago and was born with a love of water. Elisa's center of life is now in Portugal.

Klaus Dibiasi is currently working hard on himself. “The rehab has worked well, in a few weeks – when the Corona-related “house arrest” wears off, I will be able to leave my apartment,” says the former “King of the Skies”. He will also get this “problem” under control. Even a surgical procedure won't knock out a Dibiasi so quickly.

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Klaus Dibiasi, the blonde angel in Olympic heaven

S+ is tracking down South Tyrolean sports legends in the new series “What happened to…?” Brilliant achievements of sports icons are traced in irregular succession and an answer is given to the question of what became of him or her.

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