Dirk Gion

Dirk Gion (* 1965 in Dortmund ) is a German science journalist, television presenter, director, stuntman / stunt coordinator, extreme athlete and adventurer.

He has produced television and radio documentaries worldwide, including for ZDF , Arte , WDR , ARD , National Geographic , KiKa , Pro 7 , VOX , Kabel 1 and other broadcasters. Dirk Gion became known through his moderation as an action expert on the ARD broadcasts Kopfball und Experimente am Limit . Dirk Gion set various world records in extreme sports and extreme technology.

Life

After his school days in Dortmund and Werl (graduation class 1986) Dirk Gion studied law at the Ruhr University in Bochum , at the same time he was trained as a radio and television reporter at the WDR in Dortmund, Essen and Cologne . In 1992 he completed a television internship in the legal and justice editorial department at ZDF in Mainz. Since 1993 he has been part of the permanent team of authors in the Science Television program group of the WDR in Cologne.

Between 1988 and 1996 Gion lived in Australia and the USA for several years. During this time, numerous radio and television documentaries were created. In 1994 Dirk Gion reported on construction workers in the Yugoslav war . This resulted in the establishment and a two-year commitment in a private aid organization that provided construction aid in Bosnia.

Between 1995 and 2000, Gion carried out several expeditions and extreme sports projects. Among other things, he rode together with his brother Frank Raschke and Martin Becker for six months through the Rocky Mountains and followed the continental mountain range from north to south over a distance of 2000 km. From 2004 to 2007 Dirk Gion was a team rider in the Flysurfer professional kite team and crossed Australia on a skateboard pulled by stunt kites.

From 2008 to 2010, Gion taught conception and image design for television programs at the chair for science journalism at TU Dortmund University .

In 2010/2011, together with the engineer Stefan Simmerer, he developed the world's first long-distance wind car, the Wind Explorer, and set several world records while crossing Australia from west to east.

He lives in Essen, is married and has two children.

Media work

After his training at WDR in the areas of reporting, interviews, live reporting and moderation as a radio and television reporter, Dirk Gion completed an internship at ZDF. From 1992 he produced various radio and television documentaries in the USA, Asia, Australia, Morocco, the former Yugoslavia, South Africa, Turkey and Great Britain. From 1994 to 1997 he moderated the weekly "Webguide" section on the computer program Click auf Vox . In 1999 he founded the television production company Buckle-Up with his partner Christoph Fleischer, based in Cologne and Essen. From 2000 to 2006 he was the official moderator of the BOOT trade fair in Düsseldorf, together with the editor of Yacht magazine , Christoph Schumann .

Dirk Gion has been the moderator and action expert of the ARD knowledge magazine Kopfball since 2005 . Between 2005 and 2008 he developed the knowledge formats Experimente Am Limit and Kopfball Extreme for WDR television as a director together with his partner Christoph Fleischer and the WDR editor Ingo Knopf . He also moderates these formats together with Klas Bömecke .

In his role as TV presenter and action expert, Gion has among other things:

the first man to several minutes on water skis behind a 180-foot ocean liner that Germany stood,

crossed the Rhine near Meerbusch with a snowmobile

tries to cross the English Channel with a snowmobile

a Formula BMW racing car without an engine at Sylt Airport accelerated to almost 80 km / h with a stunt kite

pulling yourself across an airport on a mountain bike at 120 km / h to find out when a bicycle light bulb burns out.

He has now received numerous international awards for his directing and camera work. As part of his expeditions and extreme sports activities, he set several world records.

Film contributions

Kulturhaus - Gerard Mortier with artists in the Zeche Zollverein. A ZDF / Arte co-production, length: 90 minutes. In April 2002 Dirk Gion staged an unusual encounter. The Essen Zeche Zollverein was both the stage for a discussion about the possibilities of conveying art and the protagonist of the production.

Kulturhaus - Markus Lüpertz with Blixa Bargeld / Adolf Winkelmann in the arena on Schalke. A ZDF / Arte co-production, length: 70 minutes. In December 2002 the Kulturhaus followed Schalke . Markus Lüpertz , Blixa Bargeld and Adolf Winkelmann meet in the deserted AufSchalke arena .

The Fire Mercenaries of Silver City. Pro7 / Kabel 1, length: 60 minutes. In 1997 a 60-minute documentary about the Smokejumpers in the western USA was created.

Jörg Immendorff - The tongues of blasphemy. A ZDF / Arte co-production, length: 90 minutes. In 2000/2001 a 90-minute documentary about the artist Jörg Immendorff was created on behalf of ZDF in collaboration with Arte. In 2001, ZDF submitted this film as an official contribution to the Cologne Conference .

Wind Explorer - Through Australia with wind power. Documentation about his crossing of Australia with the long-distance wind car Wind Explorer .

Radio contributions

1989: Export hit work - how German industry exports work ; Red. Armin E. Möller; 60 minutes; WDR
1990: EasyReiter - 2000 kilometers by horse through the USA ; 120 minutes; WDR
1994: StahlroßReiter - freight train tramps in the USA ; Ed. Gisela Corves; 60 minutes; WDR in co-production with the SFB; Finalist Award 1996 at the New York International Radio Festival .
1995: SchattenRitter - Manhattan Underground ; Ed. Gisela Corves; 60 minutes; WDR in co-production with DLR Berlin , SFB the ORF Vienna ; World Medal in Gold 1997 at the New York International Radio Festival . WDR proposes this production about the homeless in the New York tunnel system for the Prix Italia and for the Karl Sczuca Prize .
1996: Fire Mercenaries - Smokejumpers in the USA ; Ed. Gisela Corves; 60 minutes; WDR, BR, NDR, SFB, MDR, SR, ORF; Official German contribution to the Prix Italia 1998; Finalist Award at the New York International Radio Festival 1999.
2000: Controlled Risk - Playing with Hostages and Millions ; Ed. Gisela Corves; 80 minutes; WDR, SR, ORF, Germany Radio Berlin

Awards

His documentaries Beyond Fear about freediving with great white sharks and Striped Hunters about freediving with tiger and bull sharks have twice received the Grand Prix of the International Underwater Film Festival Golden Dolphin in Moscow, and once the Grand Prix Rolex of the 37th Festival International du Film Maritime in Toulon . In addition, both works were nominated for the twelve best adventure and discovery films of the Jules Verne Film Festival Paris, took first place at the International Underwater Festival in Belgrade and won the title of “Best Film” at the Eastern Mediterranean Underwater Film Festival .

Another award-winning work by Gion is the portrait Die Lästerzungen (ZDF, Arte) about the painter Jörg Immendorff, which was submitted by Arte as an official contribution to the Cologne Conference 2001. The radio documentary Shadow Knight about the homeless in the New York subway tunnels was awarded a World Medal in Gold at the New York International Radio Festival in 1997 . The WDR nominated this production as the official German contribution to the Prix Italia . The shows Stahlrossreiter-Güterzugtramps in the USA and Feuersöldner - Smokejumpers in the USA each received the Finalist Award at the New York International Radio Festival .

In 2009, together with his production partner Christoph Fleischer, he was awarded the Christopherus Prize of the German Insurance Association for the ARD contribution alcohol at the wheel .

His Wind Explorer project , in which he crossed Australia with Stefan Simmerer, was nominated for the Clean Tech Media Award 2011. On September 6, 2011, the Wind Explorer received the ÖkoGlobe 2011 in Karlsruhe for the best ecological concept vehicle.

World records

Dirk Gion has set five official world records.

2004 - Dirk Gion was the first person to cross a continent with a kiteboard as part of the Earthflyer project and drove the longest distance ever to be covered with a kiteboard on land. His tour took him on the Stuart Highway from Port Augusta on the south coast of Australia over 2725 km to Darwin on the north coast. Gion let himself be pulled by a kite up to 7 m² in size on a mountain board. He reached top speeds of over 60 km / h.
2006 - Dirk Gion was the first person in the world to water-ski behind a cruise ship. His towing boat, the Deutschland (ZDF dream ship) is 175 meters long and probably the most expensive water ski boat of all time. The Guinness editorial team had Gion confirm this world record and officially entered it in 2007 in the world record book.
2011 - Dirk Gion and Stefan Simmerer jointly designed the world's first roadworthy wind car. Your Wind Explorer is a two-seater electric car with lithium-ion batteries and an integrated 1 kW wind turbine. In January / February they crossed the Australian continent from west to east with the Wind Explorer. On the 4700 km long tour from Albany to Sydney they used self-generated electricity from the wind turbine to drive them and let themselves be pulled by stunt kites up to 10 m² in size. When the wind fell, they used electricity from the Australian grid for a total of $ 10. With their journey, they set several new world records: never before had a wind-powered car covered such a long distance on land and never before had a wind-powered car drove a longer distance in a single day. The Guinness editorial team also honored the Wind Explorer record in the 2012 record book.

Expeditions and Adventure Travel

Six-month north-south crossing of the Rocky Mountains by horse
Crossing Northern Germany and the Vosges with Dirk's horse Hotte Max
Several months of crossing the USA on freight trains
Six-month circumnavigation of Australia and crossing with an off-road motorcycle
Crossing the Hoggar Mountains in the Sahara with an off-road motorcycle.
Climbing trips in the USA, Australia, France, Turkey, Greece.
Big wall climbing in Yosemite Valley in California (Half Dome, Cathedrale)
Canoe trips lasting several months in Poland, USA, Australia. Sailing trips in the USA, the Mediterranean and the Pacific.
Diving trips in Australia, South Africa, Indonesia, Central America, Mediterranean, North Sea.
Freediving with tiger sharks off the South African coast.
Free diving with bull sharks in the Caribbean.
Expedition leader in the Sahara during a research project of the Max Planck Institute in cooperation with ARD.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Gion, Dirk
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German presenter, director, producer and stunt coordinator
DATE OF BIRTH	1965
PLACE OF BIRTH	Dortmund