In the US he went golfing and fishing, in Canada he bathed in the Jacuzzi at Chalet Bambi, in Russia it was all too much. Simon Ammann has always invested a great deal in preparing for the Winter Games. And this time? Pandemic. From an end that never ends.
Simon Ammann in January 1998. At that time there was still an insurance company called Elvia.
In 1979, Michael Ende’s famous young adult novel, The Neverending Story, was published. The author came to an end, and of course the story came to an end too.
In 1998 the endless Olympic history of Simon Ammann, this famous ski jumper from Toggenburg, began. Beijing 2022 is the seventh chapter, Ammann rises to become the only Swiss Olympic record participant. It is at least record-breaking that he is playing his last games for the third time.
Broken heart in Sochi
In 2014, after his first last games in Sochi, Ammann, then 32 years old, said: “The Olympic spark is gone. There’s nothing to fix.” Ammann was heartbroken, he went through feelings that said more about his deep connection to the Olympic Games than the two gold medals in 2002 and 2010. After he had also failed in the second competition, Ammann had a breakdown in the interview zone, he sobbed the sporting one Damage balance into the dictaphones for minutes. Or was it cell phones back then?
Three days later, Ammann said: “My shell had just cracked. But no fear. He’s patched again. I am the master of the situation.”
Nagano 1998. Today Ammann says: «Incredible to be thrown in like that at 16. These are very nice, almost childhood memories.”
Simon Ammann has always invested a great deal in preparing for the Olympic Games, and he was also considered a master at that. But Sochi 2014 was too emotionally charged. His wife is Russian by birth, he traveled to Sochi for the first time in 2011 – and to Karelia, where Yana Ammann comes from. He carried the flag at the opening ceremony, even the parents were sitting in the stadium, someone else took care of the 20 cows at home for once. A lot seemed to be right beforehand, Ammann was in top form at the Four Hills Tournament, first in Oberstdorf, third in the overall standings. But then he got lost in the development of a new jumping shoe.
In 2018 in Pyeongchang, Ammann played his second last game. The previous autumn he had traveled to South Korea with trainer Ronny Hornschuh to get to know the country and the Olympic hills. He also went a solo path for the final preparations: Ammann trained in Sapporo, a favorite place in the same time zone as Pyeongchang, while the opponents were still jumping in the World Cup.
No result was remembered from these games, only how Ammann sat on the beam during a midnight break, shivering from the cold. Three days after the last Olympic jump, he said he must now “try to determine whether the flight is future-proof. Maybe I’ll come to the conclusion that it no longer makes sense.”
And now Ammann is on his third final game. On Thursday afternoon he speaks of the “privilege of being able to be here again”. Be again where you’ve never been? But Ammann doesn’t mean Zhangjiakou, where the Olympic ski jumping events take place. He means the games. Ammann is asked to talk about his Olympic memories. «1998 – unbelievable to be thrown in at 16. Those are very nice, almost childhood memories,” begins Ammann. In 2006, when he was resisting being carried on a stretcher after a fall, paramedics wrapped him in a neck brace and thermal wrap. Ammann jumped off the hill again that same evening.
Of course, Ammann prefers to talk about the two double Olympic victories. «2002, Salt Lake City, in the land of unlimited opportunities – before we never thought we could crack this league of extraordinary ski jumpers.» And 2010, Vancouver, the form of his life, the groundbreaking innovation of a curved binding rod, “a masterpiece that every athlete wants to deliver at some point”.
Retreat to Chalet Bambi
Before the 2002 games, the team went golfing and fishing in the Olympic region in the summer; a host from Gstaad who had traveled with them prepared the fish. Three weeks before Turin 2006, the Swiss flew over the Pragelato ski jumps in two Pilatus PC-12s. And in 2010, Ammann had a place to retreat from the hustle and bustle of the Olympics: emigrant Abraham Inniger’s Chalet Bambi, complete with jacuzzi. And this time? Pandemic. Ammann had to be content with arriving a few days ahead of his teammates.
He immersed himself again in this special Olympic world, strolled through the Olympic village, went to the hairdresser’s there. Ammann had skipped the competitions in Willingen, he needed rest, “I had quite bruised legs lately, but the motivation was great”. On Thursday he trained on the hill for the first time, in the first round he was 15th, in the second 33rd, since Pyeongchang 2018 he has only been among the top ten four times in the World Cup.
Ammann says there is no room for melancholy, “there is work to be done, I have neither the time nor the inclination to deal with the big macro, I want to be fully immersed in it to the last jump”. How many final jumps will there be? Does this ending ever end?
