It is also clear: Pechstein polarizes. She is quarrelsome, clashed again and again with her bandage, also with teammates. But she is also the most successful German Winter Olympian: Five gold medals, a total of nine Olympic medals, are German bests.
Harsh criticism of Thomas Bach
What you can’t accuse her of is cowardice – not even in front of the greatest authorities, and not even at Olympia. Two days before the opening ceremony, for example, she called for athletes to have a say in the allocation of Olympic Games.
“The Olympics have not been about sport for many years, but about politics”Pechstein told the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” and addressed the IOC President directly: “When Thomas Bach now said that that I.O.C has nothing to do with politics, so I just had to smile a little. Athletes should be allowed to have a say or vote on where the Olympic Games will be held. Then winter sports will also take place where there is a winter sports resort and not where summer games took place. That’s absurd.” In 2008 there were actually summer games in Beijing.
“Frederick the Great”
Francesco Friedrich is not afraid to show his attitude either. And he is also a record man: “Friedrich the Great” is record world champion and record world cup winner. In 2018 in Pyeongchang he won gold in the two-man and four-man bobsleigh. This time, the 31-year-old from Oberbärenburg shouldn’t get any less than that, even after dominant successes, he can get really annoyed about even the smallest mistake.
Record driver Friedrich
Francsco is also a record man, even if not (yet) in the dimensions of Pechstein. With eleven world championship titles and 66 World Cup victories, the Saxon is already a bobsleigh legend. For comparison: The current bobsleigh record driver André Lange “only” had 45 World Cup victories.