The 35-year-old from Valais has retired after more than two decades in professional snowboarding. A month after the last race, Patrizia Kummer celebrated a final party in her café in Mühlebach (VS). The professional snowboarder speaks openly about success, failure and how her father’s cancer affected her more than she wanted to admit.
SRF News: The end of your career is definitely here. How are you doing?
Patrizia Kummer: For me it’s like a book that has arrived, I can leaf through it at any time. At some point I realized: Now it’s good, I’ve experienced everything that helps me as a person. It is enough.
You said to yourself two years ago that enough was enough. The World Cup in Georgia was your big finale. But you didn’t win the world title – the only title you’re missing.
Yes exactly (laughs). I thought: It doesn’t matter whether it’s a medal or not, if only it had been a nice World Cup. But the track and the weather were not good, I just couldn’t enjoy it. It’s a shame when you’re working towards it for two years.
I’m an all-in personality, when I decide to do something I give it my all.
Now it’s like this: I’ve won three World Championship medals, just none of them gold. But the world keeps turning. Others have to make sure they have enough to eat.
You once said that even as a child you didn’t care what other people thought of you?
My parents always encouraged me that you should be at peace with yourself. However, there was one point: As a child, I hated riding through the neighboring village with my bike helmet on.
Because it didn’t look good?
Yes (laughs). I always put it on after the neighboring village, so I didn’t care. But basically I’m satisfied with myself and I know that I always give my best. I’m an all-in personality, when I decide to do something I give it my all.
Olympic champion, vice world champion, overall world cup winner
These clear objectives weren’t always easy for everyone – wasn’t it for your trainers, for example?
I am a strong, direct woman. With certain men I came to the attack. But I do so much on the side: I study, have a café, remodel a house. I don’t have time to ask everyone, in a way that protects my self, whether it might be possible, maybe if it were possible. I don’t mean that in a bad way, but I sometimes clashed with other people.
What accompanied you for several years was your father’s cancer, who previously often accompanied you to races, with whom you also run the café. How did you get through this period?
At first I thought: I don’t care. I was so confident that he would survive this. Then I had a really bad season, I was struggling all the time. Last summer he was really close to dying. And it’s only now, five years later, that therapy has kicked in and I saw: my dad from my childhood is back. It was only then that I realized the tension I was feeling. I wasn’t as cool as I thought I was.
You each said before that it had no impact on your performance.
Exactly, I’m bad myself, I don’t blame papa. I don’t do that now either, but he accompanied me a lot and was missing. But he has a good attitude towards death. He fought, wanted to live, but would have accepted it if it hadn’t been like that. That was very inspiring.
The conversation was conducted by Marielle Gygax.
Legend:
She still has a few appointments: After that, things should calm down.
SRF/Marielle Gygax
The former professional snowboarder now devotes herself to various projects. She bought her own house in Bellwald (VS) and is helping to convert it – for example as a site manager. She wants to open a practice for traditional Chinese medicine there. The graduate psychologist is doing further training in this area.
In addition, she runs the “Café Hangenbrigga” in Mühlebach im Goms together with her parents. You could also imagine leading individual ski or snowboard courses.