Ex-biathlon star Neuner: Sometimes still watches while cooking
Germany's biathlon icon Magdalena Neuner rarely sits in front of the TV to watch her favorite sport. "That might sound stupid. But I don't watch that much biathlon anymore, I'm usually out and about with my children. Biathlon might be on on my cell phone while I'm cooking," said Neuner in an interview with the "Südwest Presse" newspaper.
"And when the weather is really bad and we're all sitting on the couch together as a family, my children find the competitions on TV totally boring. They then ask: Can't we turn on something else?" said the 36-year-old, who is the mother of three children.
The former world-class biathlete, who ended her career early in 2012, looked back on the moments after competitive sport. "At the time, I thought I would stop and everything would be the same as before. I just wanted to be allowed to be at home without people standing in my garden, people ringing my doorbell 15 times a day, stalkers pestering me and me constantly having to give interviews. I had hoped for a kind of normality. It took a long time," reported Neuner.
"Especially in the early days, when I joined this biathlon circus, it was incredibly difficult to be authentic. I was very quickly pigeonholed. I was the little girl from the country who liked knitting, needlework and playing the harp," said Neuner and confessed: "I really struggled with how people wanted to see me. Because I was more than the image they had of me. At some point I just got over it and now I don't pretend to be anything for anyone. I am simply who I am."
The Upper Bavarian also spoke about winter sports in times of climate change. "It's become more difficult than it was 20 years ago. I come from a winter sports region, but I was only able to cross-country ski four times last year because there was simply no snow. I could have gone to Seefeld, but I had scruples. Do I want to drive 25 kilometers by car to be on skis for an hour?" said Neuner.
"At the same time, you don't have to kid yourself. There's a lot of discussion about winter sports, but it's not just the bad professional athletes. The big ski resorts, whether it's in the Allgäu or in Austria, are prepared by December at the latest and the lifts are running," explained the 36-year-old.
Source: www.dpa.com
