Björn Dunkerbeck’s 42 world championship titles are unmatched in sports history – the windsurfer is the most successful professional athlete in the world. The 54-year-old Dane has been married to his wife Maria since 2002. They have four children together: sons Liam and Daniel, and two daughters Martina and Alba. Liam is highly regarded in the surfing scene and could follow in his father’s footsteps.
Ask: Do you know how many runner-up titles you have won?
Björn Dunkerbeck: I don’t have it in mind, but there are many.
Ask: With 42 World Cup titles, you can sometimes forget about second places…
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Dunkerbeck: No, second and third places count too! I have almost 300 podium places in the World Cup with 167 victories. By the way, for a long time I thought I only had 40 world titles. But a few years ago we made a film and it turned out that I missed two titles. From the year 2000 onwards, everything can be looked up online. But what came before is not that easy to find.
Ask: You are a Dane and live on Gran Canaria, but many people here think you are German. Have you noticed that too?
Dunkerbeck: I’ve been imported to many – since the Nutella commercial. That was great advertising for windsurfing, my sister Britt and me. I still know the saying: “You don’t become world champion ten times by eating the wrong breakfast.”
Ask: How did the spot come about?
Dunkerbeck: I did an interview with Surf Magazine. They asked what I like for breakfast and I said: My Nutella roll and my muesli every morning, then I go surfing. One of the marketing heads in Germany, who also surfed himself, read this. He thought it was super cool and said, now let’s go surfing like Boris Becker.
Ask: How much was the fee?
Dunkerbeck: That wasn’t so much back then. But it was great for the name and windsurfing. That was more important than the money I made from it. I got something for the days of filming and then every time the spot aired. If it was shown often, I got more.
Ask: Why do you actually speak German so excellently?
Dunkerbeck: Because of my parents’ surf school. I earned my pocket money early on because I surfed the boards back from the students who had drifted away. I had a lot of Germans, Austrians and Swiss as customers.
Ask: After your career you won two more world titles: in a wok on the ice track.
Dunkerbeck: True. I was on the show with Stefan Raab and he asked me if I would take part in the event. I didn’t even know what that was, but I said yes. Then I was on Maui when I was supposed to be there for the first time and I said it couldn’t be done. But they paid everything and flew me to Innsbruck. Then I stood at the ice track and saw what I had gotten myself into.
Ask: Your film “Born to Windsurf” is part of the “Ocean Film Tour”, which is currently showing in German cinemas. What else do you do as a “surf retiree”?
Dunkerbeck: I’m still on the water, still competing. I exceeded the 50 knot mark six years ago when I was told. And then again on announcement the 100 km/h mark. Everyone said it couldn’t be done because the water would boil at the fin. But I managed over 103 km/h. Everything has to go right, otherwise you’ll fly.
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Ask: Are there no aches and pains?
Dunkerbeck: But. I had my left hip done five years ago at the Ammersee Clinic and the rehab at Tegernsee. I have now done the same program again, with the right hand. You could already see back then that there was no cartilage left. Now I have a new hip, then I’ll be fit again for the summer.
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Ask: Is this a classic phenomenon of wear and tear among surfers?
Dunkerbeck: Yes, other people have these problems too, including wave surfers. It comes from the many blows. I’ve had a few million miles on the water. The doctor says: You have relatively little to do with what you did.
Ask: Million miles? How far have you surfed each day?
Dunkerbeck: I was in the World Cup for almost 30 years. There was no GPS back then, but today we can record it precisely. When I train today, I do 40 to 100 kilometers a day. But it used to be much more than that. I wanted to be the best in all disciplines. You have to train a lot for this.
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Ask: There could be more Dunkerbeck World Cup titles. Your 20-year-old son Liam emulates you.
Dunkerbeck: He has won the Junior World Cup twice and is already involved in the adult competition. He is a professional, he was also the Spanish surfing champion. He is already being traded as the European Kai Lenny who can do everything.
The interview was conducted for the Sports Competence Center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in BILD AM SONNTAG.
