Simon Ammann, one of the most successful Swiss athletes, will be taking off in Lillehammer this weekend. The 43-year-old can look back on a great career over the years, but is also pursuing ambitious goals in his 28th season as a professional. blue Sport looks back.
Just how crazy it is that ski jumping legend Simon Ammann is still involved in the circus of the greats becomes clear when you look at the composition of the squad. The Swiss ski jumping scene currently spans three generations: Simon Ammann already has ten or more years under his belt than the veterans Gregor Deschwanden (33) and Killian Peier (29). This duo, on the other hand, joined the World Cup team at a different time to a group of around five U20 athletes who are now also aiming to establish themselves at the highest level and who, with 18-year-old Felix Trunz, have secured one of Switzerland's four World Cup starting places for the start of the season. Ammann enters his 28th season!
Unforgettable Ammann moments
Ammann's star rises at the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City (2002). The then 20-year-old from Toggenburg surprised the whole world: he became the first Swiss ever to win a gold medal in ski jumping. Thanks to his likeable, almost uniquely authentic manner for a top athlete - and the "Harry Potter silver coat" - hearts just flew to him. He is a welcome guest all over the world, providing laughs on David Lettermann's talk show or on "Wetten, dass...?".
Although Ammann flies onto the podium four times at the start of the season, he has never won at this point in his career. What's more, his form was on a downward trend at the time and, after a training crash that forced Ammann to take a one-month break from competition before the Olympic Games, no one really had him on their radar.
An anecdote told by Bernard "Beni" Thurnheer years later underlines this: Thurnheer conducted the winner's interview with a microphone from Finnish TV station YLE. "All the Swiss sports reporters were at the men's downhill and the women's snowboard and I was sent to the hill with a foreign team as an emergency nail, so to speak. Nobody really expected Simon Ammann to win." Three days later, Ammann also flies to gold on the large hill. The fairytale is perfect - but the final chapter is far from written.
Ammann, who was teased at school, becomes an honorary citizen
Back home in Unterwasser, a gigantic party is held after his return, with the wrestling kings Jörg Abderhalden and Nöldi Forrer carrying Gold-Simi into a tennis hall that is bursting at the seams. Everyone cheers him on, including his classmates, who used to tease him because he would never amount to anything anyway. The unassuming Ammann has paid them back in the most impressive way.
Salt Lake City was just the beginning. Eight years later, Ammann repeated the feat in Vancouver, winning his third and fourth Olympic gold medals. He also won five World Championship medals, including two golds, and 23 individual World Cup victories. In the 2009/10 season, he won the overall World Cup and was ultimately named Swiss Sportsman of the Year. Ammann has not been teased in Unterwasser for a long time; he has been an honorary citizen of his home village since 2010.
Ammann silences his critics time and time again
In 2011, 13 years ago, Ammann won his last World Championship medal in Oslo. He flies to bronze on the large hill. Successes became rarer in the following years, but Ammann managed to surprise us time and again. For example, when he jumped onto the podium at Kulm in January 2018 - four weeks before the start of the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang. This was after almost two years in which he had never again jumped into the top 10, with his last podium finish being around three years ago. Or when he pulverized his own Swiss record with a 243-metre jump in March 2019.
Experts advised him to retire over ten years ago. Many no longer believe he can keep up with the best. That may indeed be the case, but Ammann is undeterred and continues to do what he loves best: ski jumping. The fire is still burning inside him, and numerous other commitments have not extinguished it. The workload from his business studies at the HSG St. Gallen is particularly heavy. Ammann says: "That's why I enjoy it all the more when I can focus on ski jumping and am challenged in a variety of coordination skills."
Switzerland should be proud of Ammann
However, Ammann no longer wants to look too far ahead. He doesn't yet know whether he wants to compete at the 2026 Olympic Games. However, his summer preparations have gone better than last year and he has also changed his ski brand again. This shows that, even at 43, he is still doing everything he can to get the best out of himself.
He is no longer the same as he was in 2010: "But when I'm at the start, I'm as competitive as ever." His goal is to regularly score points "or even finish in the top 10". Last winter, he jumped into the top 30 five times and therefore collected a few points.
Switzerland should simply be proud of Ammann, who has written several chapters of Swiss sporting history. He is also a prime example of the fact that you should always set yourself new goals, regardless of what others think. Ammann is a true champion. That won't change even if he doesn't deliver any results this winter.
A typical Ammann at the end
It is fitting for the always cheerful Ammann that many sports fans not only remember his gold jumps, but also an action in which he doesn't look good at all (see video at the beginning of the article).
