Myth of the Four Hills Tournament: When fans wear diapers

Teenagers screamed until they became hoarse. Completely crazy supporters with “Hanni, I want a child from you” posters or purple Martin hats stood at the facility eight hours before the start of the jumping to see their heroes up close. In order not to lose their place in the front row, the supporters resorted to the most absurd means - and even put on diapers in order to relieve themselves flexibly locally.

“Of course I know the stories, I was there. That was a really crazy time. There was so much going on at the jumps, in front of our hotel, everywhere at the competition venues. There was a huge enthusiasm around us,” Schmitt told the German Press Agency. The two-time overall World Cup winner was a world-class jumper, but like Hannawald, he was also a charismatic fan magnet, for whom thousands flocked to the ski jumping stadium.

No more womanizers, but the myth remains There are hardly any womanizers and teenage idols in this form in 2019, but a huge myth has endured since the middle of the last century: the Four Hills Tournament, first held in 1953. The ski jump spectacle in the venues Oberstdorf, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Innsbruck and Bischofshofen thrives on its tradition and regularly attracts people around the turn of the year who otherwise have nothing to do with ski jumping or winter sports in general for a whole year.

Sven Hannawald won the Four Hills Tournament in 2002. © APA / Gindl Barbara

The private broadcaster RTL even advertised the tour as the “Formula 1 of winter sports”. When Hannawald was crowned the first quadruple winner in the history of the event on January 6, 2002, over 13 million Germans watched on television. “I have experienced a lot of great things, both my own things and from colleagues. But Sven’s Grand Slam was an incredible highlight,” says Schmitt. 120.000 marks for a commercial The dimensions at that time were enormous: RTL accompanied the tour with 30 cameras and 300 employees. The station paid the German Ski Association (DSV) 48,5 million German marks in 1999 for the first three-year contract, and a 120.000-second commercial during the New Year's ski jump cost 30 marks. Such advertising costs - of course significantly higher - are usually only mentioned when the Super Bowl takes place again.

Even though the great media interest waned in the crisis years after Schmitt and Hannawald and has never reached this level again to this day, the ten-day Alpine foray through the four towns remains cult. There are various reasons for this. The start in the Allgäu has been sold out for years and is full of atmosphere, thrilling spectators in the stadium and in German living rooms. Norway's coach Alexander Stöckl says: "Oberstdorf really turns it into something great, an event." There is room for improvement The unique selling point also makes the tour special. Although there has been a competing series with the Raw Air Tour in Norway for a few years, the date shortly after Christmas, the tradition that has grown over decades and the competitions held in a knockout format make the tour an event with great recognition value.

The tour's established traditions will certainly shape its future. Four jumps, the four locations, ten days of constant pressure and the duel one against one in the first round: these parameters will remain. Nevertheless, those active see potential for improvement - such as the integration of women into the program - or an increase in the meager prize money for the winner, which in previous years was 20.000 Swiss francs.

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Myth of the Four Hills Tournament: When fans wear diapers

The German ski jumpers Martin Schmitt and Sven Hannawald are not the Backstreet Boys or Robbie Williams. But anyone who looked around the ski jumps in Germany or Austria in the early 2000s would have suspected exactly that.

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