SZ: Sport is…
Mathias Tretter: …like humor, only without laughter – the physical outlet; the humor is the spiritual.
Your current fitness level?
Talking about my age is similar to discussing my current grades in local studies and general studies. But if you really want to: still alive.
Rim upswing or stopover?
You overestimate my sports vocabulary. I suspect what a stop could be and I’m all for it – but at the same time I have to say that I always found the word “stop off” too pompous for a visit to a pub. After all, you just sit down and order – mostly cheap – food and drink, and more often than you would like; that has very little of the splendor of a procession passing through the city gates.
Physical education class was for you?
From the eleventh grade cheerful afternoon exercise followed by drinking beer – great! From the years before I only remember smells: changing rooms, floor mats, the leather fumes from medicine balls – a piece of sports equipment that I haven’t seen anywhere since then, by the way.
Your personal record?
Eleven halfs.
Stadium visitors or TV athletes?
stadium visitors; most recently ‘Rammstein’ in St. Petersburg, but only because I was invited. Anything with women on TV.
Club or shamrock?
SG 1896 Olympia Leipzig. My son plays there. For me, football above amateur leagues comes before the Eurovision Song Contest.
Your eternal sports idol?
Michèle Mouton (former rally driver, ed.). Insanity.
A formative experience?
Every single mountain hike with my father.
In which discipline would you be an Olympic champion?
I’m happy if the disciplines I compete in are legal, let alone Olympic. But to name something, I think I’m now a very passable Leipziger – and a sly Franconian. Together means: gold in sausage eating.
Which athlete would you like to swap jerseys with?
That depends on what I want to like – the jersey or the athlete. When it comes to clothing, I would take everything from the dressage riders; and I would also like to see her perform a piaffe in my old FV-04-Würzburg shirt.
Under the heading “Formality” the SZ asks people about their affinity for sport every week. Artists, politicians, captains of industry – just no athletes. It would be boring.
