WORT – Page 2 – Lëtzebuerg Skeleton

Translation

Jeff Bauer: More than adrenaline

When he starts up in the ice channel, Jeff Bauer hides his surroundings. There is only him and his sled left. Photo: John Bauer

Luxembourg has a deep emotional meaning for skeleton pilot Jeff Bauer. Its history begins after the Second World War.

In 2018 Jeff Bauer missed participation in the Winter Olympics due to a missing signature. In two years the skeleton pilot wants to make it to Beijing at the age of 48. The Grand Duchy plays an important role in this.

“There are no coincidences”

When Jeff Bauer’s story begins, he wasn’t even born. After the Second World War, Bauer’s American grandfather marched through Luxembourg with the Allies. It crosses the village of Fels. 36 years later, Bauer’s father moved to Europe with the family around the then six-year-old Jeff for a job at Goodyear – and found a new home in Fels of all places.

There are no coincidences, ”says Jeff Bauer when he talks about his family’s history. The bond with Luxembourg is not only an entry in the annals for the now 46-year-old, but extremely emotional. “Luxembourg was the last place we really were together,” he says. “This is why this country is so important to me.” When Bauer returned to the United States with his family in the 1990s, the parents separated. From then on, Jeff’s connection to Luxembourg was set in stone.

Olympic dream

Bauer is now wearing his former homeland on his chest: he has been a Luxembourg citizen for almost two years – and regularly plunges down an ice channel as a semi-professional in the skeleton bobsleighing discipline. But what started as a hobby around five years ago has now become more ambitious.

“I learn quickly,” explains Bauer about his short-term progress, which currently led him to 90th place in the world rankings. Bauer will start on Saturday at the European Championships in Sigulda, Latvia. In two years he wants to be at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing (CHN).

“That is my ultimate goal,” explains Bauer. “But the qualification is even more difficult this time.” While there were 30 skeleton starting positions in Pyeongchang (KOR) in 2018, there will now be only 25 in the Chinese capital. Since some countries are only allowed to send one athlete, Bauer has to advance to the top 60 in the world rankings on his own account.

Little tragedy

The ambitious athlete knows exactly what it feels like to have the goal in mind. Bauer had the required ranking for the past winter games, all he needed was the Luxembourg passport. But after passing the language test, for which he was only given a place at the last second as a replacement, his Olympic debut failed due to the bureaucracy.

The decisive signature came too late – even though the organizers in Pyeongchang had postponed the deadline especially for him. But this “little tragedy” is ticked off. “I’m all the happier now that I’m finally Luxembourgish. I’m extremely proud of that, ”says Bauer, who has been part of the COSL elite team since July last year.

The next fall is sure to come

The 46-year-old lives in the USA, in Park City in the state of Utah. There, not far from the ice channel of the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Bauer discovered his passion. “I’ve only been competing since 2016,” he reveals. “When you do what you love, your heart, soul and body are in harmony. Then you get better quickly, ”the New Luxembourger is certain. This enthusiasm for sports was already noticeable in his youth in the Grand Duchy when Bauer was playing basketball for the young Luxembourg team.

His current passion is much colder – and more painful. During training in Latvia, Bauer promptly flew off the sled and injured his thigh. It was far from his first fall. Also at the World Cup in Lake Placid (USA) in December the winter sports enthusiast was caught at full speed. “My Latvian trainer Lelde Priedulena asked me right after the race how I was doing. I was unsettled but intact. She said that I had to go down again immediately. I needed a good run to get the fall out of my head. ”

In the skeleton, the athletes ride on their stomach on a special toboggan through an ice channel. The name came about because of the sled, which was reminiscent of a steel skeleton, especially in the first models. In 1928, Skeleton made its debut at the Olympic Games in St. Moritz (CH). After a long break, with a short comeback at the 1948 Winter Games, the discipline was resumed in 2002 in Salt Lake City (USA). Acting Olympic champion is South Korean Yun Sung-bin.

Luxembourg in the heart

In Sigulda too, Bauer is concerned with gaining experience and gaining routine. “I want to get to know as many routes as possible this season – and deliver respectable times,” he explains. Bauer has been chasing ice in Germany, Russia, Canada, the USA and now Latvia since mid-October. The many trips allowed him to work as an engineer at Triumph Gear Systems. In the process planning for aviation, the elite athlete can organize his work on the go on a laptop.

Bauer also strengthens the connection to his chosen nation between the units. “I take Luxembourgish lessons on Skype once a week. Above all, I want to be able to speak to the other athletes in their mother tongue. ”The importance the small country has for the American-born is clearly noticeable. “My family and I talk more about Luxembourg than ever before. It’s not just sport for me, it’s a lot more. ”

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.

Category: WORT

Luxemburger WORT Sigulda World Cup article

Lux Wort Article about Jeff Bauer Jan 2017