Bad Aibling (dpa) – During the Olympic Games, Anna Schaffelhuber got up at night to watch the competitions.
“And I quickly looked up some decisions in the teachers’ room before the first lesson,” reports the seven-time Paralympic champion in an interview with the German Press Agency. She never had to be careful not to fall asleep in front of her students. Schaffelhuber always went to bed early. She’s just disciplined.
This is how the monoski driver became “Gold Anna” and Germany’s para athlete of the decade. At the Paralympics in Beijing, which begin on Friday, Germany will no longer be able to rely on its medal collector. Schaffelhuber is now a teacher of mathematics, accounting and business law at a secondary school – and works as an ARD expert for the games in China.
Secondary school teacher and TV expert
Most students will then consciously marvel at their teacher on TV for the first time. At her last games – 2018 in Pyeongchang – she was still a student. It is “quite possible” that she will be seen differently afterwards, says the 29-year-old and laughs: “But the advantage is that when the transmissions are running, they are all in school.” Of course, every class told her, “I should mention and say hello to her”.
But not only her students will miss Schaffelhuber during the one-week leave for the TV job, but above all the German delegation in Beijing. DBS President Friedhelm Julius Beucher experienced for himself how happy Schaffelhuber, who has also been married since 2019, is in her new life. “She made a life decision that you not only have to accept, but to celebrate,” he says. “Sport is only temporary, her life is school and she is happy there.” Of course, he is looking forward to her appearances on the screen: “She knows how it works and can report on all the subtleties.”
She might even have continued if the Games weren’t taking place in China. “There were candidates, I would have definitely wanted to go there again,” said the athlete, who was paraplegic from birth from the hip: “But I knew: Beijing is coming and I don’t want to go there. For me it’s complete madness that the games take place where human rights are not respected and it snows three days a year.”
Athlete does not regret her retirement
She has never regretted her resignation, says Schaffelhuber. “It was a good time. When others are in the office, I’m up the mountain,” says the five-time winner of Sochi 2014. At the Olympics, “a little feeling of longing came back.” And when the Paralympics start, it will “certainly be a bit itchy. But you quickly forget all the trappings that are attached to it. When I think about it, I know it was all right.”
The resignation at the end of 2019 was followed by “two years of complete withdrawal”. Because of Corona, she was neither able to ski nor, as hoped, to visit her former colleagues at a World Cup in Austria or Switzerland. When she recently sat in the monoskibob again, she felt an unexpected feeling of happiness. “It was liberating to know that you are not under constant observation and that you don’t have to take every momentum in the fight for hundredths,” she says: “And what mountains I saw there! I had never noticed them before. It’s back more passion back than in recent years.”
Now she will be one of those who point out mistakes. As a teacher, she has “clear principles and rules,” she says: “As long as they’re followed, I’m relaxed. If they’re not followed, I can get grumpy.” It will not be easy for her to clearly name mistakes of old rivals or even girlfriends. “But I’m someone who addresses things honestly.” She is “madly” looking forward to the new job. “I’m basically talking about my life.” From a successful life.