Do you know the Katzenbuckel? No? But you should, because amazingly, one of the most successful ski careers in Germany once began on this small hill in Baden-Württemberg. The Katzenbuckel is the highest elevation in the Baden Odenwald and measures 628 meters. Not exactly the cradle of alpine skiing, one would think. Here, however, on a short slope at the former Katzenbuckel T-bar lift, which no longer exists, Katja Seizinger learned her first rapid turns in the snow.
Born in Westphalia, home on the Neckar
Born in Datteln near Recklinghausen in Westphalia, little Katja moved with her parents to Eberbach am Neckar near Heidelberg at the age of six: “I feel good in Eberbach, that’s where my parents live, that’s where my home is”. Katja Seizinger, who has opted for the Electoral Palatinate, later repeatedly emphasized this when she was traveling around the world on skis and was asked about her homeland and origins. She never saw herself as a Westphalian.
First races in the Bavarian mountains
So while the skiing basics were practiced on the neighboring Katzenbuckel during the week, the ski club Katzenbuckel went to the Bavarian mountains on the winter weekends for children’s ski races and young talent competitions. The famous talent of the “Flachland-Tirolerin” from Eberbach was quickly recognized. Katja rocked the Bavarian competition, already as a teenager she drove to the international top. Her warm smile became a habit on the podiums of the world’s ski slopes, especially on the downhill. A bold young woman with an irrepressible will to win.
First Nagano – then the early end of a great career
Diligence, will, talent? “A combination of everything,” says Katja Seizinger in an interview with SWR about her great successes, “that applies to every sport. Talent is also very important at the beginning of your career, later it’s a lot about discipline”.
The culmination of the career was undoubtedly the Olympics in Nagano with the double Olympic victory: “I flew to Japan with rather low expectations, precisely because of the weather”, is how I remembered 1998, “that things went so well then, you could still do that don’t even hope”. Just one year later Katja Seizinger had to end her fantastic career at the age of 29. Serious knee injury.
Study alongside skiing
But also in the career after the career, the now 50-year-old made the leap to the top. Even as a professional athlete, the entrepreneur’s daughter had been diligently studying business administration at the Fernuniversität Hagen, so she was also well prepared professionally. On top of that, there was a three-year apprenticeship as an auditor.
Also in the fast lane at work
In the meantime, the former racer has long been in the fast lane and head of the supervisory board of two steel companies with total assets in the three-digit million range. “If I do something”, Katja Seizinger once emphasized when asked about her secret of success, “then I do it right”.
Katja Seizinger became Katja Weber
Katja Seizinger also met her life partner while playing sports. Not in the snow, but in the air. Skydiving, her favorite hobby. In 1999 he married Kai-Uwe Weber and moved to the island of Reichenau in Lake Constance. Katja Weber is now the mother of two children, Finn and Ylva. “If I want to be inconspicuous,” said Katja, formerly Seizinger, when she was inducted into the sport’s “Hall of Fame” four years ago, “then I like being Ms. Weber.”
Katja Seizinger – always prefers the silent star
That suits her. Because Katja Seizinger has always preferred the “silent star”. Loud tones were always alien to her, and she much preferred to exercise polite restraint when dealing with the media. But when she stood in front of the camera and microphone, she had something to say. The author of these lines still remembers an impressive one-hour radio interview with the then only 17-year-old Katja Seizinger for ARD in Mannheim. The lasting impression that day: This Katja is going to be a big one.
“Doing the fairy on the wheel of fortune,” she once said, “is not my thing.” It is fitting that the two-time overall World Cup winner keeps her many trophies at home in Eberbach “almost all in the basement”, “and I have to look for the key first”.
“There are more important things in life than skiing,” Katja once said. She stuck to that.
Source: SWR