The 81-year-old wanted to cool off on Sunday evening in Vienna on the New Danube. After jumping off a platform, he never reappeared. The police had reported on the fatal swimming accident, on Monday it became known that it was the popular ORF reporter.
The professional fire brigade had previously reported on a man who had sunk after jumping from a bathing platform in the New Danube in Vienna-Donaustadt. Elstner was 81 years old. From the 1970s he reported on numerous sporting events for ORF and retired in 2001.
With Peter Elstner, “not only one of the most legendary ORF sports journalists, but also one of the country’s most famous sports personalities has died,” said ORF General Director Alexander Wrabetz in a broadcast: “His passion was that of the athletes he was talking about has reported, nothing after. Our condolences go out to his relatives. ”
The tragic incident occurred on Sunday evening. The professional fire brigade was alerted at around 9 p.m., and the divers who arrived at the scene of the accident recovered the lifeless body “in a short time,” as the report on Monday said, but the resuscitation measures were unsuccessful.
A passerby had seen a man sink near the bathing platform and never reappear. The divers found the casualty, who later turned out to be Elstner, within “only one minute”. He was lifted onto the platform and given emergency medical care by the Vienna Professional Rescue Service. The emergency doctor could only determine the death of the man.
Legendary TV moment: “Can we have one?”
In 2019 Elstner published a collection of anecdotes about his life as a sports reporter with the title “Pepi, let me have one …!” and thus alluded to a scene that will probably be remembered by many: After the 3-0 victory against the GDR in November 1989, with which Austria’s national soccer team under team boss Josef “Pepi” Hickersberger qualified for the 1990 World Cup, he tried to get into the team locker live and in vain.
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