Day of sport - Austria / II. Republic of Austria 2009 - 100 Euro Cent

Wolfgang Loitzl, born on January 13, 1980 in Bad Ischl, is undoubtedly one of the stars of the Austrian ski jumping team. In the past season 2008/2009, however, he grew formally beyond himself: With his sovereign victory of the Four Hills Tournament and an extremely successful World Cup secured "Wuff", as he is affectionately known by his fans, a very special place in the history of the Nordic skiing. However, hardly anyone knows better than the sympathetic "eagle" that success has to be worked hard - after all, he was not always at the top. Wolfgang Loitzl took part in a ski jumping competition in Bischofshofen for the first time on 6 January 1997 in the FIS World Cup. He could not win for twelve long years, but nevertheless: Loitzl established himself as a reliable jumper with numerous podium and top 10 results and thus became an essential pillar of the Austrian team. So he won at the 2001 World Cup gold with the team of the normal hill and bronze with the team of the large hill, at the Ski Flying World Cup 2004 bronze with the team and at the 2005 World Cup gold with the team from the normal hill and from the large hill. At the 2007 World Championships in Sapporo, Austria defended the title and Wolfgang Loitzl won gold again with the team. The breakthrough as a winner in individual competitions, he finally managed, as mentioned above, in the past season: After four second places in November and December 2008, he reached on January 1, 2009 at the New Year's event of the Four Hills Tournament in Garmisch-Partenkirchen his first World Cup victory. A few days later he also won the competition on Mount Isel in Innsbruck. At the final competition of the tour, on January 6, 2009 in Bischofshofen, his 142.5-meter jump in the first round was rated as a perfect jump (five times the ideal mark of 20) - only four jumpers had achieved that! In the second round, he narrowly missed this mark and received for his 141.5-meter jump four times the grade 20 and once the rating 19.5. Thus he set the record of Sven Hannawald from the year 2003, who also had received the 20 nine times. With the victory in Bischofshofen Loitzl secured at the same time the overall ranking of the Four Hills Tournament 2008/09. At the Nordic World Ski Championships 2009, he put one more season into his successful season, no: two, on top of that: Gold on the normal hill in the individual ranking and additionally gold with the team on the large hill! Withdrawal from elite sports finds Wolfgang Loitzl with his family in Bad Mitterndorf. His wife Marika and their sons are "the true value" of his life.