Tim Lobinger died after cancer
Tim Lobinger during a TV appearance in 2018
Quelle: pa/rtn – radio t/rtn, ulrike blitzner
German athletics mourns Tim Lobinger. The former pole vaulter has passed away at the age of 50. Lobinger lost a year-long battle with cancer.
Ggreat sadness for Tim Lobinger. The former pole vaulter lost a battle with cancer and died at the age of 50. “The former pole vault legend fell asleep peacefully in a small circle, he didn’t lose the fight, he won it in his own way,” quoted the “Rheinische Post” and the broadcaster RTL from a message from the family.
In 2017, Lobinger was diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. Lobinger fought cancer and was successfully treated with stem cell therapy. He processed his illness and how to deal with it in his book “Losing is not an option”. In 2020, however, he had to undergo therapy again and received additional radiation. The cancer returned again in 2022. Lobinger made this public in an interview with the “Bunte”.
“My cancer is too aggressive”
“There will be no more healing for me. My cancer is too aggressive,” said Lobinger to “Bild” last October. In February 2022, doctors told him his death was near. He should make arrangements, deal with his funeral and say goodbye to his loved ones. “Talking to my kids was tough. You know how bad I am,” he said.
Last summer he led his daughter to the altar as a bride. “On that day, I was just the father of the bride, not Tim, who had cancer. That was really good for me,” Lobinger told the magazine “Bunte” about his daughter Fee’s wedding. He helped plan the ceremony. “I stood between chemo stands and seriously ill people and talked to Fee about her wedding dress,” said Lobinger.
At the end of the 1990s, Lobinger was one of the best-known faces in German athletics. He achieved his greatest success indoors when he became European pole vault champion in 1998 and world champion in 2003. In 1999 he was the first German to jump the magical six-meter mark, setting a new German record. It was only in 2012 that Olympic silver medalist Björn Otto surpassed this mark by one centimetre.
Berlin Olympic Stadium 2008: Lobinger in the air
Source: dpa/Bernd Settnik
Lobinger was denied a medal at the Olympic Games and outdoor world championships. In 2011, the German Athletics Association honored the pole vaulter with the Rudolf Harbig Prize at the national title fights in Kassel.
In the summer of 2012, Lobinger started as an athletic trainer at the then second division club RB Leipzig, where he worked until 2016. Lobinger was an ambassador for the German José Carreras Leukemia Foundation.
Lobinger leaves behind three children and one grandchild.
