The German luge sport mourns the loss of Josef “Sepp” Lenz. The longtime national coach died on Thursday night at the age of 89 in his home country. Lenz had looked after the German lugers for almost 30 years and won a total of 96 medals with them at the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships, 31 of them gold.
IOC President Thomas Bach reacted deeply moved. “Sepp Lenz, like everyone who got to know him, infected me with his passion for tobogganing. With his enormous expertise, he led generations of athletes to success and then also ensured fair competitions as an ice champion,” said Bach on Monday.
Lenz was regarded as the discoverer and sponsor of the three-time Olympic champion Georg Hackl. In 1962, as an active tobogganist, he won the European title in a single-seater, among other things. A serious crash in doubles training at the Winter Games in Innsbruck in 1964 ended the career of the then 29-year-old, two years later he started his career as a coach. Lenz also showed great talent as a track architect and ice master, he was considered the “toboggan father of Königssee”.
“I got to know Sepp Lenz in the 1980s when he was planning the artificial ice rink in Sigulda. As a likeable person and competent track construction expert, he immediately inspired me,” said President Einars Fogelis of the world association FIL: “I’m so sorry for his death. We’re losing one great person who dedicated his life to tobogganing.”
On December 16, 1993, an accident in the ice channel changed his life. During repair work on the Winterberg railway, the then 58-year-old was hit by a sled traveling at 110 km/h and lost his lower leg. “Life goes on, it could have been worse,” said Lenz about the day. Only two months later he was the national coach at the Olympic Games in Lillehammer on the ice rink and led the German athletes to three medals. Lenz visited the ice rink on Königssee, in the construction of which he was significantly involved, often and gladly until the very end. “To look up,” as he said.
