Armin ZöggelerOMRI (born 4 January 1974) is a retired Italian luger and double Olympic champion. He is one of the most successful men in the sport, nicknamed Il Cannibale ("The Cannibal"), for his notable series of victories, or The Iceblood Champion, for his always cold, rational approach to the races. Fellow luger Tucker West described Zöggeler as the sport's equivalent of Michael Jordan.[2]
In June 2019 he was inducted in the FILHall of Fame.[3]
Personal life
Zöggeler was born in Meran, South Tyrol, into a farming family.[2] A Carabiniere by profession, he began to luge at a very young age, over natural tracks. He won the junior World Cup when he was 14, and made his debut with the Italian national team at the age of 19. He also took three medals at the Junior World Championships: a silver in 1992 followed by two golds in 1993 and 1994.[4] Despite a lack of tracks in Italy until the construction of the Cesana Pariol track for the 2006 Winter Olympics, he evolved into one of the most effective lugers ever.
Zöggeler lives in the town of Lana, in South Tyrol. He got married on 12 May 2007, and had two children, Nina and Thomas. During times when he is not training, Zöggeler enjoys swimming, field hockey, and collecting and watching television dramas.[citation needed] He is the uncle of fellow luger Sandra Robatscher.[5]
Achievements
At the Winter Olympics, Zöggeler has won six medals in the same individual competition in six consecutive Olympics, the first to do so;[6] including two golds (2002, 2006), one silver (1998), and three bronze (1994, 2010, 2014).
At the FIL European Luge Championships, Zöggeler has earned eighteen medals. This includes four golds (Men's singles: 2004, 2008 and 2014; Mixed team: 1994), six silvers (Men's singles: 2006, 2012; Mixed team: 1998, 2004, 2006 and 2013), and eight bronzes (Men's singles: 1994, 2000, 2002; Mixed team: 1996, 2000, 2008, 2012 and 2014).
He won the overall Luge World Cup in men's singles ten times (1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2003–04, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10 and 2010–11). This is another record together with Markus Prock.
Zöggeler's 57 individual wins in the World Cup (as of January 2014[update]), he is first of all time, beating the previous record of 33 wins by both German Georg Hackl and AustrianMarkus Prock. He also took 26 seconds and 20 thirds in World Cup races.[7]
He also won 20 Italian national championship titles between 1993 and 2013.[4]
In March 2018 a 37-minute documentary film Armin Zöggeler: La leggenda dello slittino (Armin Zöggeler: the Legend of Luge) was exhibited and made available for loan free of charge in Bolzano, with Zöggeler meeting members of the audience after the screening.[8]
On 9 February 2014, Zöggeler became the first person in history to win six medals in the same individual competition in six consecutive Olympics, by winning a bronze.[6] Other athletes who won medals in six consecutive Olympics did not do so in the same individual competition: Aladár Gerevich, a fencer from Hungary, won six gold medals between 1932 and 1960 with the Hungarian team; Elisabeta Lipă, a rower from Romania, won her medals between 1984 and 2004 in different disciplines (single scull, double scull, quadruple scull and eight).
