Markus Gandler

Markus Gandler and his wife (2009)

Markus Gandler (born August 20, 1966 in Kitzbühel , Tyrol ) is a former Austrian cross-country skier and ORF co-commentator. From 2003 he was ÖSV racing director for cross-country skiing and biathlon .

Career as a cross-country skier

The graduate of the Stams Ski School was active in the cross-country skiing world cup for 16 years and ended his career as a high-performance athlete in March 2000.

In February 1986 he became vice world champion over 30 km at the Nordic Junior World Championships in Lake Placid, 56.4 seconds behind Gennadij Lazutin (USSR, 1: 18: 12.8 h) and a lead of 56.0 seconds on Paolo Riva (Italy).

The best World Cup result the Tyrolean, who started for the ski club Kitzbühel, a third place in the winter of 1989-90 in the Canadian Canmore . His finest hour, however, hit the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano , when he won the first Austrian Olympic medal in cross-country skiing in the 10 km competition with the silver medal behind Bjørn Dæhlie . After a severe sinus dilatation, he dropped out of the World Cup at Christmas 1997 and was preparing intensively for the games in Nagano away from his teammates. The reward for this was the historic first Austrian cross-country medal, which secured the 32-year-old from Kitzbühel forever an entry in the Austrian sports annals.

In interviews, Gandler often viewed this success as reparation for many of the low blows he had suffered in his long career, such as the botched World Cup in Trondheim in 1997 or the omission of the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer , where he was in strong form and shortly before the start of the Games got sick.

Just one year later, Markus Gandler was also able to become world champion by winning the gold medal in the 4 × 10 km relay competition . As the first runner in the Austrian cross-country relay, he celebrated a second historic triumph for the small Alpine country together with Alois Stadlober , Michail Botwinow and Christian Hoffmann . After these great successes, he repeatedly achieved top placings in the World Cup, but slowly let his career end by participating in the sprint competitions, which were still new at the time and in which he could no longer assert himself.

Business career

After his active career, Gandler decided to found his own company with his colleague Alois Stadlober in order to give cross-country skiing a new image. Together with partners from tourism and business , the managing director of Gandler & Stadlober Nordic Ski GmbH has organized events in recent years. In addition, he often took on the role of a co-commentator on cross-country broadcasts on the Austrian television broadcaster ORF .

ÖSV supervisor and Olympic ban

At the request of Peter Schröcksnadel , Markus Gandler has been racing director for cross-country skiing and biathlon in the Austrian Ski Association since spring 2003 . Since he was jointly responsible for the doping scandal at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin , in which six Austrian cross-country skiers and biathletes were accused of violating the anti-doping regulations, he was taken over by twelve other supervisors in May 2007 Austrian Olympic Committee closed for all future Olympic Games.

After another doping scandal of the Austrian Ski Association at the home World Cup in February 2019 in Seefeld , in the course of which Gandler was accused by Johannes Dürr as a confidante, Schröcksnadel announced the separation of the Austrian Ski Association from Gandler at the end of the season.

Greatest successes

	discipline	space
Calgary 1988	30 km	excluded
Albertville 1992	50 km	41.
	10 km	24.
	15 km	28.
Nagano 1998	10 km	2.
	4 × 10 km	9.
	15 km	7th
		.

World championships

WM	discipline	placement
Thunder Bay 1995	10 km classic	23.
Thunder Bay 1995	persecution	12.
Thunder Bay 1995	50 km	16.
Thunder Bay 1995	team	5.
Trondheim 1997	30 km	54.
Trondheim 1997	10 km classic	38.
Ramsau 1999	10 km classic	12.
Ramsau 1999	team	gold

Awards

• 1998: Silver Medal of Honor for Services to the Republic of Austria

Web links

• Markus Gandler in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Markus Gandler in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Doping consequences: ÖSV boss Peter Schröcksnadel throws Markus Gandler out.
2. ↑ Source: "Tiroler Tageszeitung" No. 41 of February 19, 1986, page 15, bottom; Title: "Sensation: World Cup silver for Gandler"
3. ↑ DOPING SCANDAL: Key witness incriminates race director (March 22, 2019)
4. ↑ ÖSV separates from cross-country skiing boss Gandler.
5. ↑ List of all decorations awarded by the Federal President for services to the Republic of Austria from 1952 (PDF; 6.9 MB)