Bert Isatitsch

Engelbert "Bert" Isatitsch (born September 14, 1911 in Fürstenfeld ; † February 8, 1994 ) was an Austrian sports official . The teacher was President of the Austrian Luge Association from 1952 and President of the International Luge Association from 1957 until his death .

biography

Bert Isatitsch graduated from high school in June 1929 and then attended the Pedagogical Academy in Vienna . From 1931 he was a teacher in Loipersdorf , then an elementary school teacher in Liezen and finally received an apprenticeship at the Rottenmann elementary school , of which he later became director. Isatitsch, who was active as a youth as a football player and track and field athlete, but also as an ice skater and ice hockey player, first came into contact with tobogganing in December 1945 when he was asked by the mayor of Rottenmann and the tobogganist Rupert Glanzer to try tobogganing in the region to force and organize Styrian championships. Isatitsch took over this task and so the second Styrian toboggan championships of the post-war period were held in Rottenmann on January 24, 1947 and the Austrian state championships on natural track two days later in Liezen, in whose organization Isatitsch was also significantly involved. However, the cooperation with the Austrian Toboggan Association , in which tobogganing , bobsleigh and skeleton were represented at the time, turned out to be difficult and so Bert Isatitsch founded the Austrian Toboggan Association in 1952 , and he was unanimously elected as its first president.

At the international level, Isatitsch was responsible for the organization and staging of the European Luge Championships in 1951 in Igls , the first after the Second World War . Finally, he was given the mandate to represent the sport of luge in the Section de Luge of the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT), which at that time was not only responsible for bobsleigh and skeleton, but also for luge. From 1954 the Section de Luge worked de facto independently within the FIBT, and in 1955 the first Luge World Championships took place in Oslo . In January 1957 the tobogganing section was finally separated from the FIBT and the International Luge Federation (FIL) was founded. Isatitsch was elected first president by the delegates from twelve nations. Under his leadership, the FIL developed into a strong world association and Isatitsch was confirmed as president in all elections up until his death, even if his leadership style was not always undisputed. In its founding year, the FIL became a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck , luge was an Olympic discipline for the first time, after Squaw Valley was unable to host these competitions four years earlier . European championships have been taking place since 1970 and world championships in natural track luge since 1979 .

For his services, Bert Isatitsch was awarded the Golden Decoration of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria and the Olympic Order . He died unexpectedly on February 8, 1994 at the age of 82. After Isatitsch's death, the German Josef Fendt took over the management of the FIL as managing president, and at the congress in June of the same year, Fendt was elected as the new president.

Awards

• 1970: Rottenmann City Ring of Honor
• 1980: Gold Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria
• 1984: Olympic medal in silver

literature

• Harald Steyrer, Herbert Wurzer, Egon Theiner: 50 years FIL 1957 - 2007. The history of the International Luge Federation in three volumes . tape I . Egoth Verlag, Vienna 2007, ISBN 978-3-902480-46-0 , p. 289-296 .