class=”sc-29f61514-0 kHgAwW”>
Julia Steingruber
Gymnastics Championships Basel 2021. Everyone is waiting for Giulia Steingruber – figurehead, fan favorite, co-favourite. After a long hiatus from competition and an odyssey of injuries, the gymnast is finally back at her first European Championships in five years. But a few minutes before the start of the all-around final, the bad news came: the Swiss had to declare forfeit due to muscle problems in her left thigh.
The decision not to participate came after urgent advice from her team of doctors and trainers. “I really wanted to do gymnastics. Because when it comes to competitions, I’m all in.” Days later, despite a torn muscle fiber, she became European jumping champion.
It’s a constant trade-off. From her and her support team. At the time in Basel and throughout her career. “Such a decision can destroy a lifelong dream – or your health.”
On one side of her scale: ten European Championship medals, six of which gold, a World Cup podium and Olympic bronze as the first Swiss gymnast. On the other hand: a cruciate ligament tear, bone fragments, ligament and cartilage damage in the feet and various operations. “I’m not very sensitive to pain,” says the 29-year-old. This has advantages and disadvantages. “Some things could have been prevented if I had listened to my body’s signals earlier and better.”
She says it soberly, without regret. Despite many setbacks, injuries and difficult comebacks that tested her patience, she rarely argued. “Probably also by Désirée,” says Steingruber to her older sister, who has been physically and mentally disabled since birth and died in 2017 at the age of 26. “Because of her I have always had in mind what a privilege it is to do gymnastics. Your situation has always put my injuries and complaints into perspective.”
A year and a half ago, Giulia Steingruber stopped top sport because her body and mind were tired. In terms of injuries, the 29-year-old is doing very well today. Thanks to a longer break from sports. And repeated surgeries to remove bone fragments from both feet. In the right foot, the outer ligament was also replaced by a corse ligament and the inner ligament was shortened. The syndesmosis ligament was reinforced with two plates and a kind of rope, which now hold the tibia and fibula together.
She is not proud of her scars on her Achilles tendons, ankles and knees. ‘But I don’t hide them either. They are mine, they tell my story,” says Steingruber, who is studying marketing and works in sports marketing.
Your next chapter should again involve some more active sports. Because: “I can now run on a gravel path without constantly twisting my ankles. However, I now arrive panting because I am out of shape!” She lacks the motivation to start gymnastics again. “It would just be frustrating. I don’t like things done by half.” Martial arts would appeal to her. All-in – but with more attention to her body.
Dominique Mr
His gait is a little stiff. He suggests that Dominique Herr (57) has some ailments. “Bräschte”, he calls her in a broad Basel dialect. It’s not a lack of old age, it’s the aftermath of his football career: between 1984 and 1996 he played for FC Basel, Lausanne-Sport and FC Sion and made 52 appearances for the Swiss national team.
“I have osteoarthritis in my ankles, knees and back.” The Basler doesn’t let his good humor spoil that. “Professional sport is an extreme job. Some are lucky, others are unlucky.” He counts himself among the lucky ones. He knows that it could have ended much worse.
The centre-back was 18 when he suffered his first concussion. In the training camp, he collides head-on with an opponent, loses consciousness and ends up in the hospital. Serious collisions like this have become more and more common throughout his career. “I didn’t count, but there were definitely way more than seven concussions.” At a certain point, a not-ideally hit head is enough and Herr faints for a moment.
Instead of letting the head injuries heal, he is back on the field regularly the next day. “I did what the doctors said. At the time they probably lacked the sensitivity and the knowledge of what effects that could have. Stopping him anyway would have been difficult, he admits. “I didn’t even think about possible long-term damage I didn’t care. I wanted to play, to win, to be successful – whatever the cost,” says Herr. This was also his recipe for success. “I wasn’t a huge talent, I fought for everything.” to the 1994 World Cup as a regular player. “That was an absolute highlight.”
Two years later, Herr again follows his doctors’ advice – and resigns to avoid permanent brain damage. Today he feels no after-effects from his head injury. Thanks for the emergency brake. He can live with the fact that he can no longer walk so smoothly due to osteoarthritis and can no longer exercise. “I don’t regret anything.”
Patrick Gunten
Ten years ago the time had come: after 60 years of waiting, Switzerland finally won another medal at the World Ice Hockey Championships. Part of the team of silver heroes and co-responsible for one of the most legendary Swiss ice hockey moments: defender Patrick von Gunten. “That was a big career highlight and memories that will last a lifetime,” says the 38-year-old, who has played 759 national league games with Biel and Kloten and 94 national games in his 16-year professional career. The other side of the coin: two knocked-out teeth, a hand, a back and several hip surgeries. “The worst part was the back. There were times when I couldn’t bend anymore.”
Visits to doctors, chiropractors and physical therapy have been part of von Gunten’s daily life for many years. His pain and injuries are also treated with cortisone injections. “At a certain point I stopped counting how many there were.” Five years ago, chronic back and hip problems forced him to stop. “I didn’t feel despair, more a kind of resignation.”
The pain does not immediately get better after stopping. “I couldn’t do Tschutten with my boys back then,” says von Gunten, whose sons are now nine and six years old. Consistent strength training and an artificial hip joint finally help him to a new quality of life. “I can ski, run or walk again.”
Even play ice hockey. Once a week, Von Gunten is on the ice with Kloten’s veterans. He can also often be found in the stands – when his two sons are playing. Will you ever follow in his footsteps? Von Gunten wouldn’t stop her, despite his injury history. “I learned so much through sport and have benefited from it all my life,” says the management consultant with a master’s degree. “I wouldn’t trade my achievements for anything. The positive outweighs the negative.” Despite his scars before his eyes every day. And the silver World Cup medal out of sight – carefully stored in a box.
Tina Weirather
Tina Weirather’s injury record is long: four cruciate ligament tears, seven knee surgeries, five hand fractures, four vertebral fractures. Bad luck? “No,” says the Liechtensteiner emphatically. “I’ve made mistakes, just like everyone else in their day-to-day work. In skiing, every little mistake has glaring consequences.” Analyzing the reasons for her falls has helped her fight back after each injury break: “If I had believed my accidents were coincidence or bad luck, it would have meant a complete loss of control. Then I would never have been able to ski with a good feeling.”
But Weirather does. Partly thanks to the lessons she draws from her injuries. This is material or driving data. Or the realization that she can’t always give full throttle: “I used to just keep training, even though my gut feeling told me to stop. And in the races I was on the train from head to toe – with devastating consequences,” says the 34-year-old.
Finding the balance between fearlessness and caution, accelerating and listening to your body is not easy. “Because if something doesn’t hurt you as an athlete, a bruise here, a puff there, you’re probably not training hard enough!” But she succeeds, as her Palmarès proves: nine World Cup victories, two small crystal balls, Olympic bronze and World Cup silver are Weirather’s greatest successes on paper: “These victories and medals are great and also a reward and confirmation for all the work. But what matters more to me are the experiences, the people I met and what I learned along the way.
Today she passes on what she has learned to the next generation: the SRF ski expert works together with other specialists from ski, industry and sports science in the “Athletes Health Unit” of the International Ski Federation FIS. The focus of the organization is currently on injury prevention in downhill skiing.
“You can do a lot. For example, you can learn how to behave in the air by jumping on the trampoline or in the schnitzel pit. Or train on snow how to react correctly after a mistake to prevent cruciate ligament tears.” The problem: many don’t want to deal with not having negative thoughts in their heads. “That’s why it should be started in adolescence so that the subject is freed from taboos.” Her vision: “In ten years’ time, skiing will be a lot safer.” Thanks to optimal exchange between outfitters and association, airbags, cut-resistant underwear and electronic ski binding systems.
Tina Weirather has no consequential damages. “We always joke that my body is like a cat — with amazing self-healing powers.” This allows her to still be very active in sports. She likes yoga, kitesurfing and paragliding. Weirather regularly does crossfit and classic strength training to be fit for tracking shots for Swiss television. Pain very rarely plagues them these days. The exception: occasional muscle aches when her ambition gets her again.
Source : Blick
I’m Emma Jack, a news website author at 24 News Reporters. I have been in the industry for over five years and it has been an incredible journey so far. I specialize in sports reporting and am highly knowledgeable about the latest trends and developments in this field.
