Felix Gottwald commits himself fully to the Salzburg 2014 Olympic bid for the 100 days until the decision is made
Austria’s most successful Olympian, Felix Gottwald, ends his extraordinary career as a Nordic combined athlete at the end of the season. For the last 100 days before the decision is made in Guatemala City, Gottwald is devoting all his energy to Salzburg’s bid to host the 2014 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. His first international appearance will be at Sport Accord in Beijing, China.
Gottwald’s best memories from his sporting career are winning his two gold medals at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin: "My greatest success was my individual victory in the sprint competition at my last Olympic appearance. I also have striking memories of the Lillehammer Olympics in 1994, where the atmosphere was simply unique. In 2014, Salzburg, too could offer athletes and fans a similarly brilliant atmosphere."
To this end, Felix Gottwald is committing all his energy and contacts to the Salzburg 2014 bid, to get the Winter Games to Salzburg and his homeland: "Salzburg offers a natural environment. We live sport here and could communicate this feeling and this atmosphere to the world. Sport has developed over the decades for us here in Salzburg and we draw on our tradition and experience. As a former top-class athlete I can confirm that the athletes would feel at ease in the Salzburg environment and could practise their sport in perfect, yet down-to-earth, surroundings."
Felix Gottwald’s programme for Salzburg 2014 is packed. In addition to the trips to Sport Accord and Guatemala, Gottwald also has many other appearances both abroad and in Austria on his schedule. "These appearances are important for the Salzburg bid to ensure we are awarded the Games in the end. We have the possibility of bringing Salzburg’s advantages closer to the voters and their surroundings. Salzburg has a perfect concept and we just have to hope that, in the end, with this in addition to our passion, we can convince the people in charge to opt for the Salzburg bid."
Over the course of a truly unique career, Gottwald has won six Olympic medals and 8 World Championship medals. The 2003 World Champion has also topped the World Cup standings, celebrated 20 individual World Cup victories and stood on the winners’ podium 54 times.
As a service to our readers, Around the Rings will provide verbatim texts of selected press releases issued by Olympic-related organizations, federations, businesses and sponsors.
These press releases appear as sent to Around the Rings and are not edited for spelling, grammar or punctuation.
Your complete source of news about the Olympics is www.aroundtherings.com, for subscribers only.
Últimas Noticias
Sinner-Alcaraz, the duel that came to succeed the three phenomenons
Beyond the final result, Roland Garros left the feeling that the Italian and the Spaniard will shape the great duel that came to help us through the duel for the end of the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era.
Table tennis: Brazil’s Bruna Costa Alexandre will be Olympic and Paralympic in Paris 2024
She is the third in her sport and the seventh athlete to achieve it in the same edition; in Santiago 2023 she was the first athlete with disabilities to compete at the Pan American level and won a medal.
Rugby 7s: the best player of 2023 would only play the medal match in Paris
Argentinian Rodrigo Isgró received a five-game suspension for an indiscipline in the circuit’s decisive clash that would exclude him until the final or the bronze match; the Federation will seek to make the appeal successful.
Rhonex Kipruto, owner of the world record for the 10000 meters on the road, was suspended for six years
The Kenyan received the maximum sanction for irregularities in his biological passport and the Court considered that he was part of a system of “deliberate and sophisticated doping” to improve his performance. He will lose his record and the bronze medal at the Doha World Cup.
Katie Ledecky spoke about doping Chinese swimmers: “It’s difficult to go to Paris knowing that we’re going to compete with some of these athletes”
The American, a seven-time Olympic champion, referred to the case of the 23 positive controls before the Tokyo Games that were announced a few weeks ago and shook the swimming world. “I think our faith in some of the systems is at an all-time low,” he said.
