With two Olympic victories and ten world championship titles, Frank Luck is one of the most successful German biathletes. Instead of becoming a coach after his playing career, he took a different path.
Interview: Anne Hansen
The biathlete Frank Luck was actually born as a cross-country skier, right?
I definitely have a family history. My father and his two brothers were all enthusiastic cross-country skiers. My grandfather even built cross-country skis himself. I was put on it for the first time when I was three years old. Training groups started when I was six.
How did you become a biathlete?
At my children’s and youth sports school, only the best ten boys and ten girls in a year were accepted, and I was simply not one of them in cross-country skiing. But it was said: The boy doesn’t seem to be completely untalented on skis, and there is still a place available among the biathletes. Since I didn’t pass any shooting galleries at the fair anyway, I thought: I’ll just do that! To prepare, I set up an air rifle shooting range in the forest with my father and practiced.
You have won everything there is to win.
Stop! Unfortunately, I was denied individual gold at the Olympics. In Lillehammer I finished two seconds behind the first place. But the joy of silver prevailed and the relay became gold.