“I drank two bottles of vodka a day”

class=”sc-29f61514-0 kHgAwW”>

Once heaven, once hell. And back again. The life of the once successful ski trainer Fritz Züger is a rollercoaster ride. Now, at the age of 68, Züger celebrates his greatest victory. He has overcome his alcohol addiction.

Fritz is the second eldest of seven children in the family in Tamins, Graubünden. “I was always the youngest in school and was often bullied. That’s why I developed such an ambition,” he says today. Times were tough then. “We only had the bare essentials. We had no money for the ski lift.”

He trained as an electrician and then started skiing. As a service man for Doris De Agostini, who won the Downhill World Cup. The legendary Karl Frehsner brought him to the men’s as a coach. First in the European Cup and later with the most successful giant slalom team of all time. Michael von Grünigen, Steve Locher, Paul Accola and Urs Kälin delivered podiums and victories every week. «Little Fritz with the big stars. A lot of people didn’t think I was capable of that at the time,” he says.

Züger enjoyed the spotlight

Fritz was at the top. He enjoyed the flattering spotlight, he craved media attention. “I liked being in public. Maybe too much.” He became a downhill trainer with the young Graubünden super talent Silvano Beltrametti. Then came the 2001 descent in Val d’Isère. The young Beltrametti clenched his fist before the race and said: “Coach, today you win as a coach the first men’s descent.” Beltrametti was on his way to victory. Fell badly. Is paraplegic.

A day later, Züger flew to Grenoble (F) with Beltrametti’s parents. In the hospital room, Silvano clenched his fist again. “Coach, now we’re going to have another fight.” Züger says, “I could barely utter a word.”

He later spent two years in Bode Miller’s coaching team, and then in the regional association. And had to digest blows of fate. He lost a brother in a hunting accident and a second died.

Then came retirement. And the big crash of Fritz.

14 months dry

“I fell into a brutal hole,” he says. He drank vodka. “Amazing. Always more. Two bottles a day at peak times. Sometimes all night. I was joyless, a ghost, I looked terrible.” His wife, with whom he has been together since 1988, stood by him. She hid his shotgun cartridges because she was afraid of him.

But little Fritz managed to escape from hell. “14 months ago I wrote in my diary, ‘That was the last sip.'” And it has remained that way to this day. «I enjoy my life again, I am in my cabin on the mountain or with wood. And the mountain stream flows ten feet from my bed.”

The headlights are gone. life remains. “It took me a while to realize that,” says Fritz.

Why is he so open about his fate? “I’ve seen the whole world and experienced wonderful things. But now I have to close this life. And that helps me’, says Züger.

Much more important: “I want to thank my wife and my environment. I couldn’t have done it without them.”

Source : Blick