Bundeswehr, Sport & Eroticism: A Controversial Mix

“I would like to know what you wear to sleep,” the man asks in the OnlyFans chat. Lisa Buckwitz routinely types the answer with a smiley at the end: “Short panties and a top, otherwise it’s too cold in winter.”

Such conversations are also part of everyday life for the 2018 Olympic bobsleigh champion on the way to the Winter Games in Cortina in February. Captured with unique closeness by the spectacular “sportstudio” documentary: ‘Only Bob – My Body. My capital'”.

It also describes the efforts that Lisa Buckwitz goes through, in addition to the tough training, to finance her dream of a second Olympic gold medal. “This is a company with three pushers that I finance,” says Buckwitz.

This applies in general compared to the financial support of other countries, but especially for bobsleigh pilots. You have to organize the budget for the whole team. According to Buckwitz, that’s 30,000 to 50,000 euros per season.

In addition to the expense allowance and small bonuses for the three pushers who are fighting for the one place in the two-man bobsleigh behind Buckwitz, especially for the expensive material.

A set of high-tech runners costs between 8,000 and 10,000 euros – several of which are needed. In addition to Buckwitz’s driving skills, they decide between victory and defeat. Luckily, as a national team member, she gets the bobsleigh, which costs up to 100,000 euros, from the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment (FES).

Nevertheless, “you can’t just do competitive sport – you also have to market yourself. I’m an Olympic champion, but only a marginal athlete. Million-dollar contracts, endless partners – unfortunately it’s not like that.”

Even if Lisa Buckwitz finds this “sad”, she has taken up the fight for the necessary money. The 177 centimeter tall and 80 kilogram athlete – as the name of the ZDF documentary suggests – also uses her well-trained body with lots of body positivity as an asset.

Before the 2022 Winter Olympics, Buckwitz took off his clothes for “Playboy,” which is why he still receives tons of autograph requests from all over the world. Buckwitz also offers insights into her everyday life on social media.

“At some point a post reached a million, then ten million. Lisa does really great things,” says her friend and cameraman Hans Peter Hannighofer, who also comes from the bobsleigh scene as a pusher and pilot. In 2024, an erotic portal approached Buckwitz that wanted to polish up its image with well-known athletes.

According to her partner, the bobsledder, who was rather shy, decided on the deal – now fans are paying for her content. If you want to interact directly with Buckwitz, you have to pay extra.

The bobsledder draws a clear line – there is no such thing as total nudity; like her now almost 450,000 followers on Instagram, she only appears in a bikini or sports bra. This is probably why the Bundeswehr, where Buckwitz belongs to the sports promotion group, also agreed to the rather unusual sponsorship contract.

“The Bundeswehr is my employer, where I get my money every month. I’m super happy that the Bundeswehr has approved this for me,” says Buckwitz, who can also be seen in camouflage clothing in the film: “Without the symbiosis between the worlds of the Bundeswehr and the sponsors, the sport wouldn’t work.”

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