SZ: Sport is…
Theo Waigel: …life content and joie de vivre, since I was eight years old, when I experienced a radio report of a game from 1860 Munich, which ended 4:4 after a 4:0 lead by Sixty. At Christmas there was a soccer ball under the Christmas tree, the only one in the village.
Your current fitness level?
Age appropriate. With the e-bike I cross the Allgäu mountains, hike in South Tyrol and still ski on the slopes of the Allgäu.
Rim upswing or stopover?
At the age of eleven I mastered the upswing on the rim, at the age of 18 the stop-off swing.
Physical education class was for you?
The nicest thing is when we were allowed to play soccer in the summer and basketball in the winter.
Your personal record?
Twelve meters in ski jumping on a hump in Haupeltshofen near Krumbach and a successful penalty in Ursberg’s disabled football team against the Bundestag self in Bonn to equalize 4:4.
Stadium visitors or TV athletes?
In Thannhausen and Seeg with the amateurs, with melancholy in the Grünwalder Stadium, like in the Olympic Stadium and in the Allianz Arena. Football and skiing on TV.
Bavaria or sixty?
Sixty fan for 75 years, member of Bayern since 1989.
Your eternal sports idol?
Fritz Walter as a role model and sports comrade, who triggered a frenzy of joy with the soccer World Cup in Germany in 1954 and remained true to his homeland and fatherland.
A formative experience?
When we, the football team from the Krumbach high school, won 3:2 against the highly favored Günzburgers in 1958 and proudly started the return journey to Krumbach. We weren’t checked for that the next day.
In which discipline would you be an Olympic champion?
In the naming of currencies.
Which athlete would you like to swap jerseys with?
With Irene Epple, who not only became an excellent ski instructor for me.
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.
