TRANSLATION

Thrown Onto the Track

How an American Founded a Luxembourg National Team

By Sarah München
Luxemburger Wort, January 14/15, 2017

Jeff Bauer almost missed his flight to Luxembourg. He almost would not have been able to tell his crazy story. When he arrives at the Luxemburger Wort editorial office, he is still out of breath. “My flight from Salt Lake City to Amsterdam was delayed. I had to run incredibly fast, otherwise I would have missed my connecting flight.”

Running fast—Bauer can do that. In fact, he has always enjoyed doing it, practically his entire life. The story that the American, who spent his youth in Luxembourg, tells during his visit to the newsroom is about exactly that. The reason for his visit is itself rather crazy: he is there to further develop Luxembourg’s national skeleton team and to meet with his two Luxembourg teammates. (Details about the sport are in the information box.)

A national skeleton team in Luxembourg? It sounds crazy, but it is real. Bauer came up with the idea three years ago. “I live right next to the winter sports facility in Salt Lake City, and at some point I felt like trying skeleton.” So, into the skin-tight suit, onto the sled, and headfirst down the ice track. “Every time I’m very nervous and my heart pounds very fast.”

“Sport is sport, and once you are an athlete, you are always an athlete.”

A few weeks and a lot of paperwork later, the crazy idea becomes reality. Luxembourg has a national skeleton team—with one member: Jeff Bauer. Although he does not have Luxembourg citizenship, “I’m allowed to compete for Luxembourg, except at the Olympic Games, and I’m trying to become a Luxembourger.”

The one-man team creates a website and receives mail. The senders: Tom Sliepen and Joe Schiltges. The two students at the University of Innsbruck have the same idea as Bauer and happen to discover his website on the Internet.

The one-man team becomes a three-man team, and the goal is to represent Luxembourg at competitions around the world in the years ahead. “I spent so many years in Luxembourg and feel very connected to the country. For me, it is a great honor to represent Luxembourg worldwide.”

While Bauer trains in Salt Lake City, the two students receive support from the Austrian team and Austrian coach Markus Penz. “We would be happy if we could continue to grow,” Bauer says.

This is not the first time he has started a Luxembourg national team. His father and even his grandfather worked for tire manufacturer Goodyear in Luxembourg. The now 43-year-old spent ten years on the field as a young player for Black Star Mersch and two years playing for Luxembourg’s national basketball team.

Basketball? “Yes, exactly.” And the longer he talks, the clearer it becomes: Jeff Bauer finds it anything but crazy. He changes sports almost as quickly and as often as he changes his socks.

Field hockey, basketball, occasionally a little American football at a university in Ohio, triathlon (six Ironman competitions), and finally skeleton—and, oh yes, a little golf as well. Nothing special, Bauer thinks. “Sport is sport, and once you are an athlete, you are always an athlete.”

The now 43-year-old wants to take things a little easier in the future and limit himself to racing down ice tracks around the world at more than 100 km/h. “I think I’ve found my sport. Skeleton simply combines so much. You need strength, you have to be fast, and you have to be mentally strong.”

Bruises, Little Free Time

Bauer trains almost every day on the ice track or in the weight room and accepts not only plenty of bruises, but also very little free time. The American works as a manager and engineer in Park City, Utah, at Triumph Gear Systems, a manufacturer of aircraft components.

Before work, during his lunch break, after work, and on days off—training, training, training.

And Bauer particularly likes one thing: “Sport is sport, and once you are an athlete, you are always an athlete.”

He has been doing this for two years now. At the end of 2016 came his first competitions. “I’m completely thrilled by the atmosphere. Of course there is competitive thinking, but the mood among the athletes is great and very fair.” And naturally, he is happy that there is finally a Luxembourg team.

To make all of this possible, the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT) provides assistance. The Luxembourg team is also a member of this federation and therefore can train free of charge on all tracks. “There are many countries that have a winter sports team but have no training facilities in their own country.”

Bauer believes in his project and wants to race down ice tracks around the world for many years to come. But after everything the 43-year-old has already experienced, training is not impossible: “Of course I would like to represent Luxembourg at the Olympic Games, but that will be very difficult. If I don’t make it, maybe someone else will,” he says.

Then Bauer walks to the bus—he will not be running today.

“When I’m in Luxembourg, I simply relax sometimes.”

Photo caption

Jeff Bauer, Joe Schiltges, Markus Penz (Austrian coach), and Tim Sliepen (from left to right)—this is Luxembourg’s national skeleton team.
Photo: Lynette Heiner

The large photo caption on the first page reads:

Into the skin-tight suit, onto the sled, and down the ice track. Jeff Bauer has already competed in three events for Luxembourg’s national skeleton team.
Photo: Gwen Haid

Skeleton

Speeds of up to 145 km/h, winding ice tracks, and danger reminiscent of a steel skeleton—that is skeleton.

The racer starts from a standing position, takes a short running start, and then jumps—skeleton-style—onto a sled weighing up to 43 kg.

Unlike bobsleigh, the athletes lie on their stomachs on the sled.

The sport is Olympic and has a long history. In 1884, a group of Britons built an ice track between St. Moritz and Celerina in Switzerland. One year later, the first Cresta race was held—the oldest winter sports competition that still exists today.

Since 1923, skeleton racers have been organized together with bobsleigh athletes in the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing (FIBT).

Skeleton racers competed in the Olympics for the first and, for a long time, only occasion in 1928. The sport made a brief Olympic comeback in 1948 before finally being added permanently to the Olympic program 54 years later, in Salt Lake City in 2002, for both men and women.

More information about skeleton in Luxembourg was provided on the official website: letzskeleton.com.