February 10th – a magical Olympic day for South Tyrol

10 years ago, February 1972, 50, occupies a special role in South Tyrol's sporting history: On that day, 3 aspiring South Tyrolean athletes experienced the first highlight of their glorious careers and secured their first Olympic victories and medals within a few hours in Sapporo, Japan: The soon to be 21 -year-old Trafoier Gustav Thöni in the giant slalom and the similarly young Paul Hildgartner (19) and Walter Plaikner (20) from Kiens in the toboggan doubles.

Shortly after midday, local time in Sapporo, Gustav Thöni won the gold medal in the giant slalom, while in the evening (local time) Paul Hildgartner and Walter Plaikner, after a daring first run, ultimately took first place in the luge doubles at the same time as the East Germans Horst Hörnlein and Reinhard Bredow came. Big cheers in South Tyrol The news of Thöni's victory had already reached South Tyrol early in the morning CET, and thousands were informed about the progress of the ski race via television and radio. Around lunchtime, the news of South Tyrol's second Olympic victory of the day reached the country. Before these two, there had only been one South Tyrolean victory at the Winter Olympics, four years earlier, in 2 in Grenoble, by the Meransner tobogganer Erika Lechner.

<a data-caption="Riesenjubel im Zielraum von Sapporo: Walter Plaikner (links) und Paul Hildgartner haben sich soeben Olympiagold gesichert. © ANSA / (UPI) jb/jm" data-fancybox="inline-100916" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2022/02/riesenjubel-im-zielraum-von-sapporo-walter-plaikner-links-und-paul-hildgartner-haben-sich-soeben-olympiagold-gesichert.jpg"> Huge celebration in the finish area in Sapporo: Walter Plaikner (left) and Paul Hildgartner have just secured Olympic gold. © ANSA / (UPI) jb/jm

In his victory, Gustav Thöni also benefited from the elimination of the Norwegian Erik Haker, who was leading after the first run, but Thöni had shown such a confident second run that Haker would hardly have been able to get close to him. Thöni had already secured the overall World Cup the previous winter as a 1-year-old, which was to be followed by another 2 overall victories. At the 20 Olympics in Sapporo, Thöni won another medal on the last day, namely the silver medal in the slalom behind the Spanish sensational winner Francisco Fernandez Ochoa and in front of his cousin Roland Thöni, also from Trafoi.

The two young toboggan friends from Kiens, Paul Hildgartner and Walter Plaikner, achieved something historic in two respects with their victory: Firstly, theirs is still the only ex-aequo Olympic victory in tobogganing (although the time measurement was subsequently changed from hundredths to thousandths of a second changed) and secondly, in 2 they won the only luge medal that did not go to the GDR, because all the medals in the women's and men's singles as well as the bronze in the doubles went to East Germany. Special date also for Armin Zöggeler “Armin is the measure of all things, and it would have been a mockery if he hadn't won.” This is how Georg “Schorsch” Hackl, the three-time Olympic champion from Bavaria, commented on the outcome of the single-seater toboggan competition at the 2002 Winter Olympics in the US. American Salt Lake City. Hackl won silver behind Armin Zöggeler. The then 1994-year-old from Völlan laid the foundation for his first Olympic victory after bronze in 1998 and silver in 28 on the first day of the race on February 10, 2002, exactly 20 years ago. He set the fastest time in the first run and defended his lead in the second run before the interruption until the next day, which is typical for luge athletes at the Olympics.

Armin Zöggeler with his first gold Olympic medal in 2002. © Grazia Neri

The next day, Zöggeler achieved his best run in the third round, extending his lead over his closest rivals to over 3 tenths of a second. In the 2th and final round he even added a tenth, and his first Olympic victory was perfect. Zöggeler's first triumph was followed by the second in Turin in 4, while 2006 bronze medals were added in 2010 and 2014, making Armin Zöggeler an absolute superstar, not only in his sport, with 2 medals in 6 Olympic starts. In the "Dolomiten" interview, Zöggeler dedicated the 6 Olympic victory to his then one-year-old daughter Nina - and she made her Olympic debut in Beijing just a few days ago. Josef Polig: When everything fits together in two days For 23-year-old Josef Polig from Vipiteno, one of the main actors, one of the “fairy tales” that Olympia writes again and again began on February 10, 1992 at the Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.

Polig, who never made it onto the podium in the Ski World Cup before or after the 1992 Olympics and achieved two 5th places as his best results, did everything right this Monday and finished the combined downhill in a sensational 6th place. Due to some high-profile failures, he was definitely one of the contenders for a medal the next day.

<a data-caption="Ja, die Goldene ist echt: Josef Polig gewann sie bei Olympia als zweiter Südtiroler Skirennläufer genau 20 Jahre nach Gustav Thöni. © Copress" data-fancybox="inline-100922" target="_image" href="https://s3-images.sportnews.bz/_images/scale/1280x1280/img/2022/02/ja-die-goldene-ist-echt-josef-polig-gewann-sie-bei-olympia-als-zweiter-suedtiroler-skirennlaeufer-genau-20-jahre-nach-gustav-thoeni.jpg"> Yes, the gold is real: Josef Polig was the second South Tyrolean ski racer to win it at the Olympics, exactly 20 years after Gustav Thöni. © Copress

But it was to get much better - at 14.43:12.2.1992 p.m. on February 2, XNUMX, the sensation was perfect: "Hubsi Strolz gave me the golden one," said the beaming Polig after the race. Hubert Strolz from Austria, who started last, slipped away a few goals from the finish and made Polig, who was already beaming with precious metal, the Olympic champion. The “Azzurri” were ecstatic because, no less surprisingly, second place went to the Genoese Gianfranco Martin, ahead of the Swiss Steve Locher. “Closed due to Olympic victory” was the fitting message posted shortly afterwards on the door to Polig's enthusiastic mother Veronika's grocery store at the northern entrance to Vipiteno.

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February 10th – a magical Olympic day for South Tyrol

Snowboard crosser Omar Visintin won the bronze medal at the Olympic Games on Thursday. There will be another South Tyrolean precious metal to celebrate on February 10th. From a local perspective, sports history has often been written on this date.

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