Wendel Suckow
Wendel Suckow ( born April 11, 1967 in Marquette, Michigan ) is a retired American luger.
Suckow came in 1985 for sledging, quickly rose to the top national and participated first time in 1992 at the Olympic Winter Games. Until 1992 he launched both in double and single seater in, after which he focused on the individual, in which he was the first American won the 1993 world title. One of the favorites at the Olympics in 1994, he missed a medal, but it reached the fifth rank the best Olympic result of an athlete of his country. His career ended Suckow with his third Olympic Games in 1998, when he finished sixth. He then began a coaching career in the junior area of the American Association and worked in the logistics industry. In his career, the luger from Marquette won three World Cups, two of them in the single seater and a double along with Bill Tavares. This is a Suckow from six athletes who were able to triumph in two toboggan disciplines.
Career
Beginnings and first Olympic participation ( to 1992)
In his early childhood Suckow had little contact with winter sports. In retrospect, he remembered that he had never been skiing or anything else of this kind this he had built with his brothers in a ravine behind her house toboggan run with curves. However, he had not really known, although there was one of the few U.S. toboggan runs in his hometown of Marquette the sport of luge. In 1985 he visited this path together with his Boy Scout troop and completed his first runs. Several years later, he remembered that he had already felt the first ride on the track as "incredible" and immediately discovered his passion for the sport of luge. In the same year he reached first junior title and was on the U.S. team as "Rookie of the Year" ( German: Newcomer of the Year ) Award, 1986, he was promoted to the B-team of his country. Thus, the 18- year-old from Marquette was one of the few U.S. lugers this time that had not started their career on the Olympic track in Lake Placid.
After Suckow had in 1988 reached the A-team, he established himself both in single as well as in doubles in the advanced international top. In the overall standings of the World Cup in 1990/91 he was fifth in the single-seater, finishing in tenth place in the doubles ranking, together with his partner Bill Tavares. Suckow and Tavares won in the following season 1991/92 the first time a two-seat World Cup race - on the home track in Lake Placid - while at the same time her team-mate Duncan Kennedy in the single-seater triumphed as the first Americans and was in the World Cup Ranking second. Was also at the Olympic competitions in 1992 in Albertville Suckow in the shadow of Kennedy, even though he scored in twelfth in the single-seater and ninth in doubles good results. The daily newspaper Milwaukee Journal Sentinel wrote later in a report that the Americans who were interested at all for luge would, Duncan Kennedy knew, but not Wendel Suckow.
World and Olympic Fifth (1992 to 1994)
In the fall of 1992, Suckow decided not to stand in the doubles to completely focus on the Einsitzerwettbewerbe. Initially this had a negative impact; the results of the US-American worsened what he himself attributed to increasing boredom. Turn of the year he changed his mental attitude by from now on preparing for competitions through relaxation techniques completely calmed down. In addition, he told himself that he is just as good as " all those guys, who first come or second finish ." In fact Suckows form rose in the new year 1993 to peak season, the World Cup in Calgary, again. He felt very confident in his own words before the start and dropped the early start number 5 in the first run right off the bat with a new track record 46.051 seconds ago. This time was able to offer only the reigning Olympic champion Georg Hackl of Germany, who was 0.073 seconds faster. In retrospect, Suckow said, also did not disconcerted him; he was very safe in both rounds. In the second and final run of the Americans started as Penultimate and showed 46.043 seconds with another good performance. The launching after him Hackl missed this target by almost 0.2 seconds, falling to second place back behind Suckow, who was the first American and the first place as the second non-Europeans (after Canadians Miroslav Zajonc in 1983 ) Rodel became world champion. At the award ceremony took Hackl and the bronze medalist Wilfried Huber the new titleholders on her shoulders and celebrated together with him. In retrospect, Suckow said that for him the success came, not surprisingly, as early as the summer was his goal a world championship medal.
With the world title, which, as Suckow emphasized that his life had changed in any way, the popularity of the luge one years increased significantly in the United States before the Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer. In addition, the sport fell into the American newspapers, as Duncan Kennedy was beaten as part of a World Cup race in Oberhof in November 1993 by German skinheads, after he had his black teammates Robert Pipkins defended. Suckow had run together with Pipkin's back to the hotel and later commented on the incident: " We all wished we would have been with him [ Duncan Kennedy ], but we were told that could make things even worse than it already had. " Otherwise, ran the Olympic Winter successful for the Americans, especially for Suckow, for the first time decided in Winterberg one Einsitzerweltcup for themselves. He was the sixth and last until today sledders, the World Cup could triumph in both the double and the single. Overall, he thus occupied in the overall World Cup good fourth place, behind the Austrian Markus Prock, who had won four of the six races of the season. Before the Olympic competition in 1994, Suckow therefore was again among the favorites and thought it would not be a big surprise if he were to win in Lillehammer Olympic champion would be. After a mediocre first race in which he finished in tenth place overall, he did improve in each of the three subsequent passages, as an end result, however, he still was only able to take fifth place, while Georg Hackl defended his title from Albertville. Although this fifth place meant the best result of a U.S. American in Olympic luge competitions, he was regarded in the media rather than disappointment.
The last career years ( 1994 to 1998 )
In the following years, Suckow tied not quite to the international success of 1993 and 1994, but held its own in the top international and also drove for major events consistently in the top ten. His world title he lost in 1995 to the Italian Armin Zöggeler when he was clearly defeated ninth. The following year, the Americans had but after the first run in fourth place good medal chances in the second round he dropped back to seventh position. In the season 1996/97 Suckow concentrated especially on the pre-Olympic test competition in Nagano, which was held in February 1997 on the Olympic track. On the course, which he particularly valued because of its uniqueness, he coached a long time and finally won the World Cup race, in which he allowed the two German Olympic champion Jens Müller and Georg Hackl behind. This race, one year before the Olympic competition, he later described as one of only two perfect, which he had completed in his career. Ten months after, Suckow qualified for the third time in a row as one of three U.S. lugers for the Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, by fulfilling the fourth in a World Cup qualifying the required standard. His roommate and good friend Duncan Kennedy could not do that, he went immediately back then, especially since a cerebral hemorrhage was found with him. Suckow spoke of a " major shock ", the departure of his team-mates would leave the team, " a great emptiness ." In addition, the now 30 -year-old his own career end after the Olympics announced to then introduce young sledders his country at the top.
In February 1998, Suckow played his last races at the Olympics in Nagano. After the victory at the dress rehearsal in the previous year he was again traded as medal candidate, especially since he once again took up the role of number one on the U.S. team to Duncan Kennedy's career end. As early as 1994 weighed on the U.S. lugers particular pressures, as these had previously won any Olympic medals. Suckow himself said before the Games, he would try not to think about his chances of a podium finish, even if this can not always succeed. In the Olympic competition, the luger from Marquette showed four consistently good runs, with whom, however, he missed a medal and finished in sixth place. His two teammates at Olympia, Larry Dolan and Adam Heidt were eight or ten years younger and did not reach the times of the 30 -year-olds, while Georg Hackl for the third consecutive time Olympic champion. The U.S. team first submitted a protest against the success Hackl, as the German in their view, was not wearing regulation-compliant toboggan shoes. Suckow stressed this - eventually unsuccessful - protest had gone out of the coaches and not by the athletes; he himself do not concern themselves with such things. The first U.S. precious metal secured shortly after the doubles Chris Thorpe and Gordy Sheer, who reached the silver medal. Thorpe has long been Suckows neighbor in Marquette and had learned about the same time with him on the same path, the sledding.
After the race ( from 1998)
After his resignation Wendel Suckow worked from July 1998 as " Development Coach" ( German: Development Trainer) in the U.S. National Toboggan Team. At the same time his work also began Duncan Kennedy as a youth coach at the Association. While Kennedy missed a comeback attempt early in the season 1999/2000, be adopted Suckow completely from the sport of luge and account manager was in two logistics companies. After 1993 Suckow remained for 16 years the only Americans to win a bobsleigh world title. As recently as 2009 closed on his country wife Erin Hamlin, who won the Einsitzerwettbewerb the women for themselves.
Private
Wendel Suckow was born as the fourth of five siblings, he has two older brothers and a younger and an older sister. His parents have in Marquette a car shop and visited him at several competitions, including the Olympic Winter Games in 1992 and 1994. Three weeks after Suckow had begun with the sport of luge, he moved at the age of 18 years to Lake Placid to train there more to be able to. 13 years later, just after he had finished his career in Nagano, he still made in race wear his girlfriend, who led a fashion store in Lake Placid, a marriage proposal.
Especially friends Suckow was with his teammates Duncan Kennedy and Chris Thorpe. While Kennedy said in the 1990s for a long time with him a room, Suckow learned the three years his junior Chris Thorpe know before starting his career. Thorpe moved into his childhood to Marquette, where he was Suckows neighbor and began the sport of luge along with him. Early on, both athletes had the goal to compete together at the Olympic Winter Games, which they reached in 1992. Even after Suckows End of career led Thorpe his career continued successfully and won in 2002 with his new partner Clay Ives the Olympic bronze medal after he had already secured silver in 1998.