Wolfgang Pichler

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Wolfgang Pichler (2011)

Wolfgang Pichler (born January 23, 1955 in Ruhpolding ) is a German biathlon and cross-country trainer.

In Sweden in particular, where he worked in various functions for more than 20 years from 1995, Pichler is a key figure in the development of national biathlon. He looked after the world champion Magdalena Forsberg and the Olympic champions Anna Carin Olofsson , Björn Ferry and Hanna Öberg . In total, the athletes he trained won around 40 medals at the Olympic Games and World Championships.

Since the beginning of his coaching career, Pichler appeared alongside the former GDR biathlete Jens Steinigen as a sharp doping critic. From 2011 to 2014 he was in charge of the Russian biathlon team, and several athletes he trained were later also banned for doping manipulation. Pichler successfully took action against his own Olympic ban.

Career

Customs ski trainer and disputes with the German Ski Association (until 1995)

In the 1970s Pichler was a member of the B-squad of the German cross-country skiing team, later he also competed in biathlon and achieved 19th place in the World Cup as the best international result. At the end of the 1980s he was already working as a supervisor with his younger cousin Walter Pichler , who had won an Olympic bronze medal in 1984. Two decades later, both told the Süddeutsche Zeitung that there had been systematic doping by the sports doctor Erich Spannbauer in the German team. The Pichlers resisted, but the ski association they had informed in the spring of 1986 did not initially impose any sanctions on the doctor, instead they were excluded from now on. Wolfgang Pichler later described the dispute with the German Ski Association as his "first big fight against this dirty stuff [doping]". Spannbauer was fired in 1987 after a doping test by Olympic champion Peter Angerer was positive.

Pichler, who started his coaching job as an autodidact, looked after the German customs ski team in Ruhpolding and, from 1990 onwards , also looked after the East German Jens Steinigen . Pichler and Steinigen opposed the takeover of former GDR trainers - in particular the biathlon head trainer Kurt Hinze - into the united ski team. After Steinigen's public allegations that the GDR team had been asked to doping in 1985 in the presence of Hinze, Pichler was considered to be the instigator. According to the athlete, customs withdrew his supervision from Steinigens out of concern about his relationship with the ski association. Pichler initially trained Steinigen and other athletes in a private training group, only on instructions from the Finance Minister, Theo Waigel , who was responsible for customs, was he able to resume his previous position in 1992. Hinze resigned as head coach of the DSV at the end of 1991 after further allegations. At the Olympic biathlon competitions in 1992 , Steinigen was Olympic champion with the German relay. In the following years, the relationship between the customs trainer Pichler and the supervisors in the ski association remained tense, for example when Steinigen was not taken into account in the 1994 Olympic relay.

Successes with Magdalena Forsberg and the Swedish national team (1995 to 2011)

Magdalena Forsberg (here in 2006) won the overall World Cup six times with Pichler as coach.

The private training group supervised by Pichler in Ruhpolding also included the Swede Leif Andersson , who won the Olympic bronze medal in Albertville with the Swedish relay in 1992 - the first biathlon medal for the country in 20 years. With Andersson as shooting coach, Pichler switched to the Swedish association as national biathlon coach in May 1995. There he wrote the training plans for Magdalena Forsberg , who switched from cross-country skiing to biathlon in 1993. Under Pichler, Forsberg won the overall World Cup six times in a row from 1997 to the end of her career in 2002 and as many world championship titles. Pichler described herself and Forsberg as the "perfect team" and above all praised the trust she placed in him and the professionalism with which she implemented his specifications. Mikael Löfgren , who was the first Swede to win the overall World Cup in 1993, resigned from competitive sports in 1998 and justified this with criticism of Pichler's leadership style, which he considered too tough. As a result, Pichler temporarily lost his position as national coach and was Forsberg's personal trainer until 2002.

After Forsberg's resignation from competitive sports, the Swedish team boss appointed Staffan Eklund Pichler to coach the men's national team in March 2002. Pichler built a team around the young Björn Ferry and Carl Johan Bergman , which won a relay race in the World Cup for Sweden for the first time in twelve years in 2005. Both Bergman and Ferry won several individual competitions, Ferry became the 2010 Olympic Pursuit Champion. Parallel to the men's team, Pichler formed a Swedish women's biathlon team: First, Forsberg had been the only successful athlete in her country for several years, followed by the former cross-country skier Anna Carin Olofsson , who represented Sweden alone in the World Cup until 2005. Olofsson, later characterized by Pichler as a hard-training "machine", triumphed in the 2006 Olympic mass start ahead of Kati Wilhelm and thus became the first Swedish biathlon Olympic champion . With a view to the home World Cup in 2008 in Östersund , Pichler introduced other female athletes to the top of the world, including the later overall World Cup winner and world champion Helena Jonsson . In 2007 Jonsson, Olofsson, Ferry and Bergman won the world title in the mixed relay . Immediately after this success, Pichler rated him - given the long way "from the bottom" - as the greatest of his coaching life.

In the 2001/02 season - before Pichler took over responsibility for the Swedish team - the men had finished tenth in the Nations Cup of the Biathlon World Cup and the women eighteenth. Until 2008/09 , both teams improved continuously to fourth (men) and two (women). Pichler extended his contract in Sweden early on until the 2014 Winter Olympics, but from 2010 was only responsible for the women's team.

Russian national coach and return to Sweden (since 2011)

In spring 2011, Pichler signed a three-year contract with the Russian Biathlon Union (RBU) to prepare the Russian women's team for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi . The association change met with great surprise, as Pichler had sharply criticized the Russian system in 2009 - after the athletes Yaroshenko , Achatova and Jurjewa had been convicted of EPO abuse - and the Swedish team had received death threats as a result. Immediately after the change was announced, Pichler himself stated that he had not made the decision easy for himself. He later justified the acceptance of the Russian offer on the one hand by saying that he was "Sweden tired", on the other hand he thought he could "change the system". In addition, he saw himself supported by the new RBU President Mikhail Prokhorov , who was acting as a modernizer, and his association director Sergei Kushchenko. In 2012, the Russian women won the Nations Cup of the World Cup - thanks in part to three victories of their strongest athlete Olga Saizewa - but only one bronze medal. After there were no successes at the 2013 World Cup either, criticism of Pichler and his training methods, which Prokhorov's predecessor Alexander Tichonow brought forward , grew . In April he was deposed as head coach, but remained responsible for some of the runners around Saizewa and Olga Wiluchina . In the run-up to the Olympic Games, there were initially several doping cases among the athletes who were not supervised by Pichler, while Saizewa and Wiluchina won the silver medal with the relay in Sochi and Wiluchina also came second in the Olympic sprint . Pichler ended his engagement in Russia after the Olympic Games. At the end of 2017, as a result of the McLaren Report , the Oswald Commission of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) also deleted Wiluchina's and Saizewa's 2014 results for manipulated doping tests and imposed a life-long Olympic ban on both of them. Pichler, meanwhile a Swedish trainer again, should also have his accreditation for the 2018 Winter Olympics withdrawn, but he saw himself as a “victim of a plot” and successfully enforced the repeal of the IOC decision.

After a year of rest, Pichler returned to the Swedish Biathlon Association as head coach in 2015, but demanded a free hand in putting the team together. The successful athletes of the 2000s had meanwhile withdrawn from competitive sports, and both the men's and women's teams had once again fallen out of the top ten in the national ranking. With a view to the 2019 home world championships, which will take place in Östersund for the second time in 2008 , Pichler deleted all athletes he considered average from the national team and built a perspective team of young athletes. This included Hanna Öberg, born in 1995, and Sebastian Samuelsson, who was one and a half years younger . Both Öberg and Samuelsson won a gold and a silver medal at the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, which was considered a big surprise. Öberg also won the 15-kilometer race at the 2019 World Cup and became the leading athlete in the Swedish women's team, which again took fifth place in the national ranking in 2018/19 . Pichler ended his time as national coach after the World Cup in Östersund and took on a position as a talent developer for the Swedish Olympic Committee .

Further tasks

During his time as the national biathlon coach in Sweden, Pichler continued to work as a customs officer in Bad Reichenhall on the Austrian border, where he filled a 60 percent position. During his time in Russia he was released from service.

In addition to the Swedish national team, Pichler looked after other athletes, particularly in the mid-2000s, such as the biathletes Saskia Santer and Liv-Kjersti Eikeland . His commitment was particularly noted in the German media in the cross-country skiing Olympic champion Evi Sachenbacher (since their wedding in 2005: Sachenbacher- floor): Sachenbacher 2004 broke away from that of Jochen Behle conducted training group of the DSV to keep track of an individual program with Pichler, the relied on a significantly higher training intensity. In the course of the 2006 Winter Olympics , an increased hemoglobin level was found in the case of Sachsenbacher-Stehle. She received a five-day protective barrier, which Pichler viewed as excessive: the exceeding of the limit values ​​was only due to the altitude. During the three years or so during whichachenbacher-Stehle was under Pichler's guidance, there were open arguments between him and Behle. In February 2007, Pichler accused Behle of a lack of sensitivity and called for a separate women's trainer in the German cross-country team. In the end, Pichler withdrew from the care of Sachsenbacher-Stehle and justified this with the fact that he was only rarely able to accompany her to competitions due to lack of time.

Training style and assessments as a trainer

Pichler was considered an authoritarian trainer who placed great value on discipline: the athletes should strictly adhere to the training plans he had drawn up - which he sent to Forsberg by fax, later athletes by email - without engaging in any discussions. With a measuring device on the wrist of those he trained, he checked values ​​such as heart rate or running speed. Pichler also attached great importance to team spirit and for this reason did not allow any individual deviations from group training. Mona Brorsson explained that after several years in the national team, Pichler's training methods had become "incredibly monotonous" (in the original: "otroligt enformig") and praised the fact that there was more variety under his successor Johannes Lukas .

Pichler himself stated that his training system arose “from many years of trying things out”. At first he did not make his exact methods public. In retrospect, he stated that he had developed a training program with Forsberg in which periods of rest played an important role, and that he also attached particular importance to intensive interval training in the skating technique .

In looking after his athletes, Pichler was considered to be particularly committed and emotional. Hanna Öberg described him to the effect that he could “get very angry quickly”, “but one minute later it would be calm again”. Anna Carin Olofsson called him the “most enthusiastic trainer” she had met, also emphasized the mood swings and stated - like Magdalena Forsberg and Björn Ferry - that Pichler contributed a large part to their success. After his first World Cup victory in 2006, Carl Johan Bergman said that Pichler was “like a papa” to his athletes and would do everything for the biathlon.

Personal

The Pichler family is closely connected to the Ruhpolding biathlon location: Wolfgang Pichler's father Hans was one of the pioneers in the construction of the Zirmberg stadium , the predecessor of the later Chiemgau-Arena , in the 1970s . The 1979 world championships took place there, with Hans Pichler as head of the stadium. Claus Pichler, one of two Wolfgang's brothers, has been mayor of Ruhpolding since May 2008 and headed the organizing committee of the 2012 World Championships . Wolfgang Pichler's center of life was always in Ruhpolding, where he had some of the athletes he supervised train. He has two children from a previous marriage.

Pichler has been a tennis player and a state-certified tennis instructor since he was young. As a member of the over-50s team at the TC Bad Reichenhall , he announced the Swedish Wimbledon winner Björn Borg for his team in 2010 , which was met with media coverage. Pichler calls Borg one of his role models alongside the social democratic Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme . In terms of his political orientation, Pichler describes himself as a "socialist" and a "greener".

Public image and appreciation

After three decades in biathlon, Pichler was one of the world's most established coaches in the sport. He appeared as a "rather rustic Upper Bavarian figure [...] with edges", although his English, which was partly mixed with German cues, was often mentioned. In Germany, Pichler received the attribution of a “lateral thinker” in particular for his work against doping - he also referred to himself as such - and was now considered a “nest polluter”. Later he was seen as a pioneer for German biathlon trainers abroad (in the 2000s, for example, Klaus Siebert followed this path), where he signaled interest in a return to a leading position in Germany several times. Especially after the end of his employment in Russia, he was surprised that the German team had made little effort to sign him.

Due to the success of the athletes supervised by Pichler, the sport of biathlon in Sweden received an enormous increase in attention, which was expressed, for example, in the increase in television viewers from 50,000 after Magdalena Forsberg's retirement to 900,000 in 2012. The 2019 home world championships reached an audience of millions. Pichler himself also gained popularity. In January 2007 he received the Sportspegelpris awarded by Swedish television at Svenska Idrottsgalan , while Anna Carin Olofsson was named Sportswoman of the Year on the same occasion . At the end of his career as head coach, the journalist Saskia Aleythe awarded the status of a “pop star” in 2019 for the Süddeutsche Zeitung Pichler in Sweden.

Success overview as a biathlon trainer

The last success supervised by Pichler was Hanna Öberg's world championship title in Östersund 2019.

The German, Swedish and Russian biathletes trained by Pichler won eleven medals at the Olympic Games between 1992 and 2019 - not including the two withdrawn from 2014 - and 26 at world championships (if one medal is counted per season). In total, the most medals went to Magdalena Forsberg, who was not an Olympic champion but was six times overall World Cup winner.

Olympic biathlon competitions
Biathlon world championships
  • Ruhpolding 1996 : Bronze medal from Magdalena Wallin (later Forsberg) in the sprint
  • Osrblie 1997 : two gold medals from Forsberg in the pursuit and in the individual, bronze medal from Forsberg in the sprint
  • Pokljuka 1998 : Forsberg gold medal in the mass start
  • Kontiolahti / Oslo 1999 : Silver medal from Forsberg in the sprint, bronze medal from Forsberg in the mass start
  • Oslo 2000 : Forsberg gold medal in pursuit, Forsberg bronze medal in individual
  • Pokljuka 2001 : two gold medals from Forsberg in the individual and in the mass start, bronze medal from Forsberg in the pursuit
  • Hochfilzen 2005 : Anna Carin Olofsson's silver medal in the mass start
  • Antholz 2007 : gold medal of the Swedish mixed relay, silver medal of Olofsson in the sprint, bronze medal of Olofsson in the pursuit
  • Pyeongchang 2009 : Gold medal from Helena Jonsson (later Ekholm) in the pursuit, silver medal from the Swedish mixed relay, bronze medal from Jonsson in the mass start
  • Khanty-Mansiysk 2010 : Bronze medal of the Swedish mixed relay
  • Khanty-Mansiysk 2011 : Ekholm gold medal in singles, Ekholm bronze medal in pursuit
  • Ruhpolding 2012 : Olga Wiluchina's bronze medal in the pursuit
  • Östersund 2019 : Gold medal from Hanna Öberg in the singles, silver medal in the Swedish women's relay, bronze medal in the Swedish single mixed relay
Biathlon world cup

In the overall women's World Cup, Magdalena Forsberg took first place six times in a row from 1996/97 to 2001/02 . In 2008/09 Helena Jonsson won the overall ranking in the highest competition series in biathlon. Jonsson and Anna Carin Olofsson also achieved second and third places.

Magdalena Forsberg won 42 World Cup races in her career, including 14 in the winter of 2000/01 . Further victories in individual competitions in the World Cup were achieved under Pichler's supervision Ekholm (13), Olofsson-Zidek (12), Björn Ferry (5), Olga Saizewa (4), Carl Johan Bergman (3), Jens Steinigen (2) and Hanna Öberg ( 2). There are also relay wins with the Swedish and Russian teams. World championships and until 2010 also the Olympic competitions were included in the World Cup ranking.

Web links

Commons : Wolfgang Pichler  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b ”Han skulle mörda mig” on aftonbladet.se. Released November 19, 2007. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  2. ↑ Thomas Hahn: Doctor Spritz will help. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. (23.06.2007), Sport, p. 37. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  3. ↑ Thomas Kistner: “Vitamin injections? The athletes can't be that stupid ”. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (August 17, 2013), Sport, p. 36. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  4. ^ A b Cathrin Gilbert: Biathlon trainer Wolfgang Pichler: "I am the victim of a plot" on zeit.de. Released January 17, 2018. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  5. ^ A b Thomas Lelgemann: Pure family matter on derwesten.de. Released March 28, 2012. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  6. ↑ In a report from 2019, Pichler states that he dealt with the effects of lactates through a suggestion from his first wife and founded a training group with six athletes in Ruhpolding to research. He is also quoted as having studied "tennis at the university" and learned a lot about sports theory, cf. Giulio Gasparin: Three decades of innovation, experience and success. In: Biathlonworld , number 52/2019, pp. 104–110. In other reports, however, it is explicitly mentioned that he did not complete a sports science degree.
  7. ↑ a b c d Wolfgang Pichler in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  8. ↑ Anno Hecker: Those who defend themselves will be spat out on faz.net. Released April 14, 2005. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  9. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Giulio Gasparin: Three decades full of innovation, experience and success. In: Biathlonworld , number 52/2019, pp. 104–110. Available online as a PDF .
  10. ↑ Print from above . In: Der Spiegel . No. 50 , 1991, pp. 238 ( online ).
  11. ↑ Hans Eiberle: Fischer thinks of Fischer and requisitions the German flag . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (February 28, 1994), Sport, p. 35. Available via Munzinger Online .
  12. ↑ Briefly reported. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. (May 31, 1995), Sport, p. 39. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  13. ↑ Han nobbar Pichler on aftonbladet.se. Released February 15, 2009. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  14. ↑ Alla kan inte gilla Pichler on aftonbladet.se. Released March 28, 2002. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  15. ↑ Joachim Möller: Thick ceiling. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung. (07.01.2005), Sport, p. 29. Retrieved from Munzinger Online
  16. ↑ The only Swedish biathlete ever to achieve an Olympic title by 2006 was Klas Lestander , who had won the Olympic biathlon premiere in 1960.
  17. ↑ a b c d e Honorary Swede. FAZ, February 10, 2007, No. 35 / page 31
  18. ↑ Nations Cup Score Men on data.biathlonworld.com. Archived version in the Internet Archive, accessed on April 30, 2020.
  19. ↑ Women's Nations Cup Score on data.biathlonworld.com. Archived version in the Internet Archive, accessed on April 30, 2020.
  20. ↑ Johanna Reimers: Pichler får samma lön - för halva jobbet on expressen.se. Released April 15, 2010. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  21. ↑ Volker Kreisl: Stunned by so much audacity. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (February 17, 2009), Sport, p. 27. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  22. ^ A b Thomas Hahn: Cleaner for Sotschi. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (April 29, 2011), Sport, p. 33. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  23. ↑ Volker Kreisl and Joachim Möller: “I also go to the oligarch in jeans”. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (March 2nd, 2012), sports supplement, p. 33. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  24. ↑ sid: Tikhonov criticizes Russia's women's trainer on focus.de. Released March 29, 2013. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  25. ↑ Volker Kreisl: Bizarre construction. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (April 17, 2013), Sport, p. 29. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  26. ↑ Volker circ: Traveling by Pichler seal. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (February 6, 2014), Sport, p. 29. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  27. ↑ Joscha Weber: Biathlon star Saizewa banned for life on dw.com. Released December 1, 2017. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  28. ↑ Chelsea Little: Rodchenkov Testimony in Zaitseva Case Includes Entire Biathlon Team: Doping Before and After Sochi on fasterskier.com. Released December 23, 2017. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  29. ↑ Saskia Aleythe: Mr. Pichler and the fast Swedes on sueddeutsche.de. Released February 14, 2018. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  30. ^ Sandra Degenhardt and Volker Gundrum: Swedish sensation on neue-deutschland.de. Released February 15, 2018. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  31. ↑ a b Armin Gibis: "That speaks of arrogance" on ovb-online.de. Released January 20, 2015. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  32. ↑ Kathrin Zeilmann: Ego trip instead of group trot on taz.de. Released October 23, 2004. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  33. ↑ TT: Pichler rasande över avstängning on hd.se. Released February 10, 2006. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  34. ↑ Thomas Hahn: The fun of arguing. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (03.03.2007), Sport, p. 41. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  35. ↑ a b Thomas Hahn: In the north of the free spirits. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (February 6, 2008), Sport in Bayern, p. 34. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  36. ↑ Skidskyttelivet efter Pichler: ”Lite roligare” on aftonbladet.se. Released November 26, 2019. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  37. ↑ Fritz Heimann: The time of starvation pays off. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (07.02.1997), Sport, p. 18. Retrieved from Munzinger Online
  38. ↑ Jaka Lucu: Always redefining the perfect race. In: Biathlonworld, number 50/2019, pp. 66–69. Available online as a PDF .
  39. ↑ Marianne Tharaldsson: "Controversial, strong at färg, krävande, jobbig, kunnig charming, rolig och otroligt snäll!" on skidskytte.se. Released February 5, 2014. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  40. ^ Sid: Thanks to Papa Pichler. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (March 17, 2006), Sport, p. 33. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  41. ↑ Mats Bråstedt: Wolfgang Pichler i stor intervju "Känner mig svensk" on expressen.se. Released November 29, 2008. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  42. ↑ Gerald Kleffmann: "That would be great fun" on sueddeutsche.de. Released May 17, 2010. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  43. ↑ Cege Berglund: "Kallade mig nazist" on gp.se. Released February 13, 2010. Accessed April 29, 2020.
  44. ↑ Thomas Becker: The Russian and the Ruhpoldinger on Abendzeitung-muenchen.de. Released March 1, 2012. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  45. ^ Fritz Heimann: lateral thinker, restless. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (January 16, 2002), Sport, p. 36. Munzinger Online .
  46. ↑ Fritz Heimann: Biathletes start towards new goals towards the summit. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (July 16, 1994), Sport, p. 45. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
  47. ↑ German trainers as pioneers in biathlon on welt.de. Released February 20, 2009. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  48. ↑ Leif Emsjö: Christer och Kalle - en fullträff för skidskytte on skidskytte.se. Released February 16, 2013. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  49. ↑ Åsa Edlund Jönsson: Skidskyttets miljonsuccé i SVT under VM on blogg.svt.se. Released March 20, 2019. Accessed April 30, 2020.
  50. ↑ Saskia Aleythe: Antholz strengthening. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung (19.03.2019), Sport, p. 25. Retrieved from Munzinger Online .
personal data
SURNAME Pichler, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German biathlon trainer
DATE OF BIRTH January 23, 1955
PLACE OF BIRTH Ruhpolding