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Interview with Sven Fischer from March 29th 2004

At the Olympics everyone wants to be on the relay team

Though he's not the man with the most titles as world champion, he can claim to be the one who was on the rostrum most often in international competitions. He was among the top 3 for 118 times, and the likable dark haired guy holds 7 world champion titles and 2 Olympic victories. The two champions of last season, Ole Einar Björndalen und Raphael Poirée "only" stood on the rostrum for 100 respectively 90 times.
With a little distance after winning the gold medal at home in Oberhof and the birth of his daughter Emilia Sophie, the 32 year old faced an interview with the "Südthüringer Zeitung".

stz: How is your little daughter?
Sven Fischer: She is developing splendidly. She and my wife Doreen are fine.

stz: So your expectations concerning both sports and private life, have been fulfilled?
Sven Fischer: Of course my daughter's birth stands above it all. Concerning sports – well I have been doing it for years now and there have always been light and shadow. The last season was a post-olympic one, so we decreased the amount of training slightly. Therefore my performance wasn't always optimal. Unfortunately there is no world record time in biathlon as it is in track and field sports, so there is no way of comparison before the season starts. I improved in skiing, but my shooting wasn't constant. Anyway, I reached my aim to improve in skiing.

stz: You have been in the world cup since 1992. What changed in biathlon since then?
Sven Fischer: There are much more competitions. In former times there were the 10 and 20 km distances and the relay. It was well-balanced between 10 and 20 km competitions and all types of skiers and marksmen had equal chances. Then the pursuit and mass start competitions were installed. The 20 km competitions are on the schedule more and more seldomly, though they are part of that sport and have been characterizing it. If you don't hit your targets in the sprint before a pursuit, both competitions are in vain.
The IBU has to think about how to regain the balance of former times. The focus of biathlon competitions nowadays is only on skiing. I know the long individual competition doesn't seem to be very attractive for the television companies, but there are ways to make it more attractive, e. g. as in cycling sports, where you don't see the competitions from beginning to end. And one should think about reducing the "strange foreigners" in the world cup. Of course it is nice to have a varied bunch of athletes, but the level of the competitions should not be influenced by that.

stz: Is it harder to win the overall world cup nowadays?
Sven Fischer: No. The overall world cup shows that you have been amost unbeatable all season. But the pressure on the one wearing the yellow bib has increased.

stz: In the world cups not everyone is keen to participate in the relays, because you are not awarded points for that. Is that right?
Sven Fischer: Yes, that's right. The IBU devaluated the relay, because you don't get points. Many athletes see that they can't win anything and spare their power of their individual races. Strangely enough everyone wants to be on the relay team in world championships and the Olympics. My suggestion to the IBU would be: the relays should be awarded both points and prize money.

stz: There is a trend that top athletes prepare for the season highlight on their own. So are you?
Sven Fischer: Nobody is training all alone. You can't train what it is like when shots ring out left and right of you at the shooting range, when you're on your own. The magnificent atmosphere in Oberhof made clear, how important ist is to get on with noise. If you are not prepared for that…! Even top athletes benefit from training in a group. It is easier to motivate yourself in a group, because no one in keen on training kilometers every day and it's better when you test your material. In my opinion training in a group is the best way to the top on long terms.

stz: What do money and fame mean to you?
Sven Fischer: Being rich has nothing to do with the state of your account, it's the non-material things that count. There are a lot of millionaires who are poor devils, at least in my opinion. They don't have friends and when the money is gone, they are all alone.
The significance of money increased and effects biathlon sports in different ways. On one hand sports are in danger that everything orientates on money. E. g. we often have problems to warm up and peter out properly, but everything is done to create ideal conditions for advertising. I'm sure the 20 km competition would rather have the significance it deserves if there wasn't the great influence of money. Business interests spoiled a lot.
On the other hand, we are able to save some money for our life after sports. I would have had to quit my career already, if there wasn't the opportunity of earning money. With participating in world championships and Olympic Games you experience highlights no money can buy. I could have quit after my great successes, because I won everything you can win as an athlete. But with the money you earn you can build a bridge to your life after sports.

stz: How well do you sell yourself?
Sven Fischer: Some sell themselves, that you can't avoid the word "whore". I don't want that. I don't stoop to everyone and everything. I have long term advertising partners. I appreciate, that the company identifies with me as I am as a person. I am good-natured, but I have a mind of my own.

stz: For how long will you be an active sportsman?
Sven Fischer: As long as body and soul are a unity. I definitely don't have enough yet. But the times are fast-moving. There is no exact date. The life as an athletes bears a quality of life in itself. I don't want to miss that, but I don't want to pant along the tracks in a wheelchair. I think I'll be able to make it before that.

The interviewer was Liane Reissmüller