Josef Feistmantl

Josef Feistmantl (23 February 1939 – 10 March 2019) was an Austrian luger who competed from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. He competed at three Olympic Games.[1]

Josef Feistmantl
Medal record
Luge
Olympic Games
1964 InnsbruckMen's doubles
World Championships
1969 KönigsseeMen's singles
1959 Villard-de-LansMen's singles
1970 KönigsseeMen's singles
1967 HammarstrandMen's singles
1971 OlangMen's singles
European Championships
1967 KönigsseeMen's doubles
1962 WeissenbachMen's doubles

Biography

Feistmantl was born in Absam. Competing in two Winter Olympics, he won the gold medal in the men's doubles event at the 1964 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck along with Manfred Stengl.[2]

Feistmantl also won five medals in the men's singles event at the FIL World Luge Championships with one gold (1969 - the first Worlds to be held on an artificial track, at Königssee),[2] two silvers (1959, 1970), and two bronzes (1967, 1971). He also won two medals in the men's doubles event at the FIL European Luge Championships with one gold (1967) and one silver (1962).[3] After his 1969 World Championship win, he donated the medal to the Polish team after their luger Stanisław Paczka had been killed whilst in competition at the Championships: Feistmantl stated that he "wanted to set a positive example". That year the International Olympic Committee awarded him a Fair Play Prize for his gesture.[2]

At the opening ceremonies of the 1976 Winter Olympics, Feistmantl and fellow Austrian alpine skier Christl Haas were lighters of separate Olympic Flames as defined by Innsbruck's hosting of their second Winter Olympics. He subsequently cited this as his fondest memory.[2]

Feistmantl was inducted into the International Luge Federation Hall of Fame in 2005 along with Hans Rinn.

References
  1. Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Josef Feistmantl Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 April 2020.
  2. Harder, Wolfgang (May 2014). "What are they doing now…" (PDF). FIL Magazine. Vol. 1 no. 51. Berchtesgaden, Germany: International Luge Federation. p. 27. Retrieved 14 January 2019.
  3. "List of European luge champions". Eiskanal (in German). Archived from the original on 2008-03-25. Retrieved 2015-02-08.
Olympic Games
Preceded by
Günther Zahn		 Final Olympic torchbearer
with Christl Haas
Innsbruck 1976		 Succeeded by
Stéphane Préfontaine and Sandra Henderson
Preceded by
Hideo Takada		 Final Winter Olympic torchbearer
with Christl Haas
Innsbruck 1976		 Succeeded by
Charles Gugino
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.