As shady as the Olympic present was, it was said that her past was radiant. In order to whisper this glow, the ARD ski jumping expert Sven Hannawald has trained himself in a special language, he is a man standing in the light of the present, who, however, sounds like one from the past, especially in moments of greater excitement: “My dear slider,” says it besides Hannawald, anyone else? “Sparkling wine or seltzer”? “Oh you green nine”? Sounds a lot like Günter Pfitzmann, who was in the Three ladies from the grill not getting enough change.
Flying man aD: TV expert Sven Hannawald.
(Photo: Angelika Warmuth/dpa)
Why does one speak as he speaks? To test whether he is still understood. Hannawald rummages the old language kit stuff, holds it up to the light, and it still shimmers. It shimmers. “Sappradi, boy!” Harry Valérien used to call, “Fly, albatross, fly!” Jörg Wontorra called. “Give gum, Katha,” Hannawald calls out. Because this Katha – Katharina Althaus – needed support with ski jumping from the normal hill. It became apparent early on that she would be dealing with nothing but Slovenians, and Hannawald analyzed the pictures of these Slovenians and said: “They are sitting aggressively”, which is no wonder. Because: “With Slovenians, you always know that they’re up for a riot.” Rarely are entire nations summed up in one concept in such an appreciative way. To be more precise, it hasn’t been heard so beautifully since Andi Brehme (“The Brazilians are all technically well served”).
The green wind from behind also blew away the downhill skiing – or the blue wind from the front?
Four Hills Tournament winner Hannawald saw the Slovenian Ursa Bogataj smash down the hill, “Of course it can rattle now,” he feared, and of course it rattled when it meant: Slovenian wins, German is second. Hannawald, flying man a. D., looked at control monitors, at flashing numbers, at waving arrows and realized: “In the to-beat display you can see that the green wind is coming from behind.”
The green wind from behind later blew away the downhill, maybe it was the blue wind from the front. One does not know. My dear slider. It becomes clear early on that as a spectator you won’t be able to plan. You will be sitting aggressively in many ways – in front of the screen in these so-called games. Aggressive like the Slovenians.