Stories from Franz

Since Franz Bracket After winning Olympic gold on the Patscherkofel in 1976, the Carinthian has a right to remain in the “Hall of Fame” of Austrian sports without an expiration date. Where “Kaiser Franz” can still be found: in the hearts of his large fan base. This was felt so intensely late on Friday evening in the Brucknerhaus in Linz that quite a few tears of emotion were shed up on the stage and all around in the booming audience area. Before he could even utter a word, Linz embraced Franz Klemm with an almost endless standing ovation.

• Also read: Standing ovation for the “Ski Emperor”: Why Franz Klemm was overwhelmed

One almost had the feeling that more than 2,500 people would still be standing in the Brucknerhaus applauding Tom Walek not reminded after a few minutes that as gala presenter he is responsible for carrying out a precise schedule as accurately as possible. This “bracket moment” nevertheless broke the corset of time. And everyone who experienced it won’t forget him so quickly, including Franz Klemm: “I thought to myself, I’m just a guest here. And then something like that happens,” said the ski legend, who recently turned 70, touched and seized.

They were ÖSV long-term pacesetters Hans Pum and Upper Austria’s sports icon Andreas Goldberger, who presented Klemm with the “Sports Life-Time Award Austria” on stage. Both of them revealed one or two memories as companions of the ski legend, but the best stories about Franz were told by Franz himself. For example, when he wrapped team boss Helmut Marko’s brand new Mercedes around a fruit tree during the mountain race in St. Agatha (” The farmer scolded me because all the apples fell down even though they weren’t ripe yet.”

He modestly justified his dominance, manifested in 25 downhill victories (all-time record), with the material (“The Fischer ski was technically ahead of everyone at the time”), but also his ability to carve turns in the snow without a fitted ski. The fact that he is a proud grandfather (“The little one of my three grandchildren is particularly wild on skis, he doesn’t want to take turns and does a somersault at the bottom”) made Klemm even more approachable than he already was.

“I think there were a thousand selfies today,” he said, a little tired but full of positive emotions, as his gala visit ended well after midnight. It didn’t take him long to recharge his battery: After swimming in the crowd, “Kaiser Franz” went on a ski tour in Carinthia yesterday. Without a selfie hunter in tow.

As pioneers of the great atmosphere at the bracket award, under the humorous (discussion) leadership of Walek and Silvia Schneider previously, among others, star guests such as Thomas Dreßen (Scharnsteiner’s election was appointed by the State Sports Councilor Markus Achleitner appointed “Upper Austria Ambassador”) Florian Klein, Didi Hamann and ÖFB President Klaus Mitterdorfer proven. The football trio set the bar for the ÖFB team for the European Championships in Germany at the knockout stage (at least the round of 16). That’s where she belongs too.

In the Olympic talk it made it Magdalena Lobnig to take the Microman’s breath away while racing on the Technogym rowing ergometer. The Carinthian woman won the race confidently, Tom Walek showed the audience how you can lose and win sympathy at the same time.

In the “athlete lounge” there was a tennis lady vibe Sandra Reichelthe ski legends Hannes Trinkl, Reinfried Herbst and Hans Enn as well as the “running group” Günther Weidlinger, Susanne Gogl-Walli and Christian Pflügl good mood, before the Wels cover band Hoamspü Lively and energetic Austro-pop hour brought to the finish in a fitting way with this song: Long live sport.