In his “living room” in Alta Badia: Odermatt chases ski legend “Tomba la bomba”

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Marco Odermatt didn’t expect that! What happened? «After my World Cup points record last winter, I received a message from Alberto Tomba. When a great legend like Alberto writes to you, it is very special.”

On Sunday, the best ski racer in the world will most likely compete again against the old star from the Po Valley. In Alta Badia, “Tomba la bomba” has a permanent place on the VIP stand. The ‘Gran Risa’ served as a second living room for the son of the millionaire from Bologna between 1987 and 1998. The three-time Olympic champion has won the giant slalom four times on this selective track.

After one of these triumphs, Italy’s national hero also caused a scandal: some 50,000 spectators had to watch their idol hurl the trophy at a photographer during the awards ceremony. Tomba was completely beside himself at the time because this ‘paparazzo’ had shot him stark naked in the sauna years before.

“I want to look good in the winning photo”

“Otherwise, Alberto was one of the nicest people I met in the ski circus,” says former slalom world champion Frank Wörndl (64). The German also notes that Tomba “remained a big child who had a lot of nonsense in his head.” Would you like an example? Colleague Wörndl delivers a special Tomba joke: “When he was on his way to the ski resort in Sestriere and there was a traffic jam on the Milan-Torino highway, Alberto, who belonged to the Carabinieri sports group, simply screwed the blue lights onto the roof of the car and drove it past the convoy.”

According to Wörndl, the self-confidence that Tomba had before his first major victory was also extraordinary. «In 1987, after the first giant slalom race in Sestriere, Alberto was in fourth or fifth place when he told me he was going to the hotel to shave. I asked him if shaving clean would make him faster. Tomba shook his head, “No, but I want to look good in the winner’s photo!” A few hours later, this downright crazy person actually won the first World Cup Giant Slalom!”

With this victory, the offspring of a textile entrepreneur has also become a women’s favorite. Tomba is said to have had numerous affairs. From Miss Italia to pop star Sabrina Salerno, who scored a world hit with the title ‘Boys’. However, Tomba’s friend Wörndl never met these women: “I believe that some Tomba love stories were based on media inventions. In any case, I have only experienced it once that Alberto really wanted to conquer women’s hearts. And that was at the 1988 Olympics.”

Wörndl, who won slalom silver behind Tomba at these games in Calgary, is specific: “Tomba was completely in love with Katarina Witt, the ice princess of the former GDR. I was there when he sat down with Kati in the canteen of the Olympic Village to make her beautiful eyes. But because the GDR leadership forbade her to have contact with athletes from the West, Alberto could not pass on this date.

Tomba invites Odermatt

His accompanist Roberto Brunner almost never left Tomba’s side. Because the overall World Cup winner of the 1994/95 season spoke only Italian in his sporting heyday, the multilingual South Tyrol was mainly a sought-after translator at media events. And in certain situations Brunner also played Tomba. “During the 1989 World Cup in Vail, I arranged an interview with Tomba for SonntagsBlick,” recalls Mario Rall, Blick’s former ski director. “It wasn’t Alberto who showed up for the interview, but Roberto. Brunner grinned and said, ‘You can ask me anything, after all, I know exactly what Alberto would answer.'”

Tomba no longer has a media double, as Brunner died of cancer in 2016 at the age of 64. Tomba no longer attends many public appointments anyway. After trying his hand at acting after retiring from sport without much success, he now makes only sporadic appearances as a Unicef ​​ambassador and for a sporting goods manufacturer.

The fact that the “Svizzero” Marco Odermatt was able to overtake him on Sunday in “his” Alta Badia in the category of World Cup victories in the giant slalom (both have 15 each) does not cause Tomba any problems. «Marco has a lot of style and power. It’s fun to watch him. That’s why I complimented him at the end of last season. And if he has more time, I’ll take turns going with him twice and then we’ll go to a great ski lodge for lunch or dinner.”

Will Tomba Odermatt actually invite you? Many insiders ask themselves this question because they know that ‘La Bomba’, despite his great fortune, is more likely to convert every euro three times rather than twice.

Source : Blick