Salzburg (pps/December 17, 2009) Wilfried Huber of Italy is on the verge of setting up a unique record in the history of Olympic Winter Games. The luger from South Tyrol, 1994 Olympic champion in the double-seater together with Kurt Brugger in Lillehammer, Norway, might be the first athlete ever to participate in his seventh Olympic Games. Since 1988 in Calgary, the 39-year old has taken part in all Winter Games - in Albertville (1992), Lillehammer (1994), Nagano (1998), Salt Lake City (2002) and Torino (2006).
Georg Hackl of Germany boasts six starts at Olympic Games - also a record at Winter Games. As the first ever athlete in winter sports the now 43-year old earned a medal at each of his five consecutive Olympic Winter Games. "My two silver medals nicely frame my three gold medals", describes Hackl his Olympic medal collection with one silver medal (1988), three gold (1992, 1994 and 1998) as well as another silver medal in Salt Lake City (2002). At his last Games in Torino, however, Hackl failed to grab a medal.
His long-time rival, Italy's Armin Zoeggeler, might even be able to draw level with Hackl, earning his third Olympic gold medal after 2002 and 2006 at the upcoming Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada (February 12-28, 2010). At any rate, Hackl with his three gold and two silver medals will still remain ahead of Zoeggeler in the all-time rankings. So far, Zoeggeler has won two gold, one silver and one bronze medals.
The unofficial title as most successful Olympic starter in the women's single goes to two athletes: Steffi Martin Walter of the former GDR, who earned gold in Sarajevo (1984) and Calgary (1988), and Germany's Sylke Otto, winner in Salt Lake City (2002) and Torino (2006). In the double-seater, the third Olympic luge discipline, the record-winners are Stefan Krauße-Jan Behrend, who were able to collect two gold medals (1992, 1998) and one silver (1988) and bronze medal (1994) all between 1988 and 1998.
Already since the 1964 Olympic Winter Games luge has been part of the Olympic programme. In Vancouver, medals will be awarded for the 13th in the women's and men's singles as well as in the double-seater. In the meantime, the International Luge Federation, FIL, has filed a motion with the International Olympic Committee to include the Team Relay event within the Olympic programme of the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
At the times of Paul Hildgartner, by the way, the issue of relay events were not yet discussed. But the Italian athlete created an Olympic novelty. Together with his partner Walter Plaikner he won the double-seater event at the 1972 Games in Sapporo. Exactly twelve years later, 1984 in Sarajevo, he then repeated the feat. Hans Rinn (GDR) won the double-seater event twice together with his partner Norbert Hahn (1976 and 1980), furthermore he took a bronze medal in the men's singles in 1976.
The decision in the double-seater at the 1972 Games in Sapporo represented another novelty: the two teams with Hildgarter-Plaikner and Horst Hoernlein-Reinhard Bredow (GDR) both finished their runs in exactly the same time. This is why two gold medals were awarded for the so far first and only time.
At that time, timing equipments were set to measure in hundredths of a second. Only four years later, in Innsbruck in 1976, the luge timing equipment to measure in thousands of a second celebrated its Olympic baptism of fire - by the way, as the only Olympic winter sports.
It is not surprising then, that in 1988, only two thousands of a second accounted for the difference between gold and silver. After a course of 4,776 metres Germany's Silke Kraushaar boasted the equivalent of an advance of just five centimetres when she became Olympic champion in Nagano, ahead of team-mate Barbara Niedernhuber. This margin is still the closest of all times in the history of Olympic luge events.
