What is very difficult to imagine: a grumpy Andreas Goldberger, an overweight Andreas Goldberger and an Andreas Goldberger who looks like a fifty-year-old. In fact, the legendary ski jumper is always in a good mood, physically fit and fat-free and still has a rascally face by nature. That doesn’t change the fact that next Tuesday he will actually be 50 years old. In an interview with the OÖ Nachrichten, Goldberger sometimes sounds a bit old-fashioned.
OÖ News: A TV documentary on the occasion of your birthday is subtitled “A rascal turns 50”. Are you really still a rascal?
Andrew Goldberger: To be honest I think so. The question is, what do you mean by rascal? I still enjoy doing things that you shouldn’t be doing when you’re fifty. The doctor says I should exercise in an age-appropriate way – and certain things that I like to do aren’t part of that. And if you don’t really listen to the doctor, you’re a bit of a rascal, aren’t you?
Almost everyone who is told that you will soon be 50 years old shakes their head in disbelief because you still look so youthful. What’s the secret behind that?
There is no secret there. I have to be honest, I was lucky. I mainly learned that from my mum, who is now 80 and is still relatively fit. Otherwise, I believe that laughing a lot and a healthy attitude towards life bring something. But that I’ll be 50 … I can’t quite believe it either. I’ve only just turned 40, the last ten years have passed very quickly.
Last but not least, you are the nation’s darling because you are always in a good mood and friendly. Isn’t being “Goldi” sometimes very exhausting?
Not really. If you are physically fit, if you are healthy, you simply have a zest for life. Of course there are days when it pinches you and you’re not in a good mood. I have days like that too, but whining doesn’t make life any easier either.
It’s hard to imagine a grumpy Andreas Goldberger giving a selfie hunter the cold shoulder.
As a youngster, when I was still a ski jumper, I was always really happy about the spectators who came to the hill and supported me. You have to imagine: they stand there for hours, even in the lousy weather, just to keep their fingers crossed for me. I’ll have a minute for a selfie or an autograph. Giving and taking, that belongs together. I want to give something back to the people who have always had my back and cheered me on.
Return cue: Which trophies would you return and exchange for an Olympic win?
I have three total World Cup balls. One is at my house, two are lying around somewhere. I would exchange one immediately. An Olympic victory was always a childhood dream of mine. I’ve at least been lucky or privileged to have two Olympic bronze medals at home.
At that time you were renamed Bronzeberger. Does that still hurt today?
No, I wouldn’t say hurt. You get older, life isn’t all about sport. In the end you have to be happy to have won a medal at all. How many athletes train long enough to even come to the Olympic Games. That alone is a great achievement. They’re only every four years. There are only a few who also win a medal. And I’m one of them.
Where there is light, there is also a shadow: your cocaine scandal, including a round table with Helmut Zilk, Niki Lauda and Elmar Oberhauser, is part of contemporary Austrian history. What is the place of this life crisis in your personal history?
I would have preferred not to have done it and it would have been different. I made a huge mistake there, thank God it ended relatively well. It’s part of it, I have to live with it. In the end, I suffered a major setback from this situation in terms of sport, but I learned a great deal from this mistake, both personally and for life afterward. I’ve really learned where my friends are, I’ve learned people skills. I also noticed: whoops, one misstep can ruin your whole life. I think if I had won 30 more competitions I probably wouldn’t have learned as much from it as I did from this loss.
How can you explain that you were forgiven so quickly? There are other athletes who can’t get away from a scandal story – especially after a doping offense – for life. In your case, your affair was dismissed as a youthful sin.
Right from the start I said very clearly: yes, I made a mistake. Of course you could also deny and deny everything, but I just didn’t want that. You can make mistakes, you just have to learn from the mistakes. People appreciate that. If you do something wrong, then you have to own up to it, really bear the consequences yourself and not push them onto someone else and shirk. Honesty will always win, sooner or later.
What would 50-year-old Andreas Goldberger advise 17-year-old Goldi?
Watch out for certain things (laughs). He would say: Listen to your trainers, to the old, experienced people, to parents, grandma, grandpa, because they have experienced it all themselves and only mean well with you. But when you’re young you don’t believe it, you really want to make your own experiences. In retrospect, I ask myself why I didn’t believe them, they were right anyway. The knowledge of today with the body of yesteryear – I would be unbeatable.
To person
Three overall World Cup victories, two overall victories in the Four Hills Tournament, ski flying world championship title (1996), another eleven medals at major events – the sporting calling card of Andreas Goldberger, who was on the road with the World Cup circus from 1992 to 2005, is remarkable. After the end of his career, the Innviertler made the flying change as a TV expert to the ORF, for which he is still in action (but no longer as a jumper with the helmet camera). The versatile Goldberger is active in several sports. Whether it’s the Wasa Run, mountain runners at the Dolomitenmann, mountain bikers at the Salzkammergut Trophy or most recently at the Crocodile Trophy in Australia – the former ski jumper never shies away from a challenge. Climbing the Grossglockner is currently at the top of his to-do list. Although he is a real mountain enthusiast, the highest mountain in Austria is still missing from his summit book.
In his private nest in Mondsee, he is involved in numerous clubs, including playing for the local tennis club. Goldberger has been married to Astrid since 2013, and they have two boys, Tobias (5) and Alexander (7).
Born in Waldzell, he has been working with young people for a long time as the initiator of the Goldi Talente Cup, which gives many children a helping hand year after year. For quite a few later ÖSV eagles, this “trial training” was the entry into ski jumping. Incidentally, Goldberger did a coaching course after his career.
Source: Nachrichten
