Lukas Dauser is not only ending his Olympic career, but also his international career. It is not enough for a happy ending. A mistake that has never happened before costs him a medal.
His heart hurt more than his injured upper arm, his head was empty: gymnastics world champion Lukas Dauser left the international stage without the longed-for brilliant Olympic exit. A mistake that had never happened to him before cost the 31-year-old a possible medal at the Summer Games in Paris. With 13,700 points, the Olympic silver medalist from Tokyo only managed a disappointing seventh place in the high-class parallel bars final.
“It’s bitter,” admitted the sad Unterhachinger in the catacombs of the Arena Bercy. “Definitely” his heart hurts the most. He hasn’t been able to get into his competitive mode. “It’s extremely bitter,” repeated Dauser, who was injured while preparing for Paris. “After the story, I would have naturally hoped for a happy ending, for me to simply do a nice routine. It’s a shame. Not everyone can have a happy ending, even if I don’t like stories without a happy ending,” he said. He has “relatively a lot of emptiness” in his head.
After gathering himself for a few hours, Germany’s Sportsman of the Year announced the end of his international career in Paris. “Internationally – European Championships, World Championships, Olympic Games – that’s the last time we saw Lukas today,” said the 31-year-old from Unterhaching in an interview with the TV channel Eurosport. “In the last few weeks and months I made the decision that this was my last major international competition,” he later explained on ZDF.
Praise for the physiotherapist’s continuous commitment
His pre-Olympic story is that of a torn muscle in his right biceps, which he sustained 44 days before his parallel bars final. Germany’s 2023 Sportsman of the Year had always described it as a miracle that he even experienced his third Olympic Games in Paris. “Big praise to Cyrus for managing that. It’s amazing,” said national coach Valeri Belenki about the constant work of physiotherapist Cyrus Salehi.
While his arm didn’t cause him any problems, the injury affected his preparation. Because he couldn’t practice and automate his exercise often enough, he made a mistake he had never made before. During the element called Tsolakidis, he lost his balance and hit the left bar with his leg. “I’ve never made that mistake before during that element,” admitted Dauser, “after that thing, I knew it was over. The rest wasn’t so bad after all.”
Preparation bordered on “sheer madness”
His home trainer Hubert Brylok in Halle/Saale had only one thought at that moment: “Shit! That hurt so much. The emotional pain was greater than the pain on the bar. For both of us.” He and his protégé had worked meticulously towards this final day and had overcome the handicap of the muscle injury. “We know what he has invested in the last few weeks. It borders on sheer madness, the way he has tormented himself and fought to get back on track. It was sheer madness,” reported the coach.
It was unclear immediately after the competition how long he would have Dauser under his wing. The only thing that was certain at that point, however, was that the parallel bars world champion would not compete in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. “I won’t do four more years,” he announced. After Paris, he would finish the Bundesliga season and compete in the Swiss Cup.
Proud of his career and future father
While still in the gym, the 31-year-old said that he wanted to decide by the end of the year whether he would end his career or continue to compete at least until the European Championships in Leipzig next year. “It’s an incentive, but nothing more,” he said first, adding: “I’ve achieved a lot in my career, and I’m already very proud of that. I’m very disappointed that it didn’t work out today.”
He explained his later change of heart by saying that he was not yet ready to announce the end of his international career immediately after the competition. “I don’t know why, maybe because I was so excited, I was a bit disappointed by the exercise,” said Dauser.
In September, Dauser will become a father for the first time. “September 20 is the due date. It will be a boy,” he said. He and his wife Viktoria already have a name, but he did not want to reveal it. “Now new tasks await me, which I am really looking forward to,” he said.
When Dauser stepped up to the parallel bars for his ultimately botched exercise, China’s Zou Jingyuan had just finished his fabulous performance with 16,200 points and thus won gold, as he did in Tokyo in 2021. Silver went to Illia Kowtun from Ukraine with 15,500 points. Bronze went to team and all-around Olympic champion Shinnosuke Oka from Japan with 15,300 points.
Source: Stern
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