Stories about the Olympic Games (... It would have been a shame if we hadn’t written them down.)

In Cortina, Bob Pilot Debora Annen (left) visited Bauerfeind’s treatment center with her pusher Salomé Kora. The two cheerful Swiss ladies are an interesting duo: Annen, 23 years old, is the daughter of the multiple Olympic and World Champion Martin Annen. Two-time Junior World Champion, Debora Annen was taking part in the Olympic Games for the first time – together with her brother Tim, who is a pusher in the four-man bob. Salomé Koras, on the other hand, has experience with Olympic Games: She is the first Swiss athlete who participates in both Summer and Winter Olympics: The 31-year-old track and field athlete has competed in Olympics three times as a sprinter. In 2021 in Tokyo, she narrowly missed the podium in the relay race where her team came fourth. In Cortina, both athletes suffered from joint and muscle problems. Our colleague Daniel Martin (center) helped them with supports and compression stockings. The two friendly Swiss athletes managed to finish seventh.

Working together, chatting, and sharing lunch – that’s what the Olympic Games are all about. In clinics in Livigno and in Bormio the atmosphere was particularly friendly: When teams changed, the physicians organized a small picnic, also inviting the Bauerfeind colleagues, of course. Spending the final break together may have made parting a little easier. “We are one family here,” said an orthopedist from Italy, describing this particularly warm atmosphere.   

Up to 18 colleagues enjoyed an Olympic video conference with Rainer Berthan on February 18: Before his visit to Italy, our Chief Executive Officer wanted to get an advance impression of how the Bauerfeind Teams were getting on in the different locations – experiencing everything virtually that was going on during a day at the clinic: This included everything from internet failure (Antholz-Anterselva) and urgent treatment (Cortina, Predazzo) to best wishes from physicians. The teams reported on their various experiences as well as impressions, and Rainer Berthan was interested to find out more. Our Chief Executive Officer also proved that he had expert sporting knowledge, for example when it came to the new Olympic discipline of Ski Mountaineering (or Ski Mo): Rainer Berthan felt that the French were the favorites and, lo and behold, they won most medals in the three competitions.   

Thomas Weikert (2^nd from the left) is the President of the German Olympic Sports Federation (DOSB), and as such, he wanted to be as close as possible to the action involving Team Germany. During this year’s decentralized Winter Olympics, this meant: sitting in the car for extended periods to get from one competition site to the next to be able to cheer on as many athletes as he could. So it was merely a matter of time before he would require compression stockings. The leading German Team Physician Prof. Dr. Bernd Wolfarth therefore phoned our colleague Dirk Schwager (pictured on the left) in Cortina. Together with Daniel Martin (right) he quickly treated the President – between two appointments – and his traveling companion at the same time: Thomas Weikert and Folker Hellmund, who manages the DOSB Office in Brussels, were then able to continue on their way, perfectly equipped with stockings. 

Colleagues in Zeulenroda heard stories about the Olympics last week in the canteen. During the lunch break, Luisa Bärtig (Bauerfeind Sports) and Orthotist Alexander Lehle (Orthopedics Trainer) shared their experiences. The Presenter was Claudia Metzner (Corporate Communications). And because this format was so well-received, there will be another lunch break with stories about the Olympic Games on February 26 in the same place.

I, Simone, am from North Germany. For us, winter means two centimeters of freshly fallen snow messing up all traffic. I bought my only pair of “real” winter boots because of the Olympic Games, in January 2010. Since then, they’ve accompanied me to three Winter Olympics: 2010 in Vancouver, 2014 in Sochi, and 2018 in Pyeongchang. But there was hardly any snow. So as a rough estimate, I wore them on about 14 to 18 days. In the meantime (more than 5,800 days!), they’ve been lying in the boiler room, unused. And that was not the proper way to store them as I know now because on the flight to Italy where I wore them proudly, they fell apart. In Venice, at 12 degrees and sunshine, it was the end of the road for them. With a tear in my eye, I disposed of them sustainably. Therefore, my shopping news: In the center of Cortina d´Ampezzo where elegant boutiques and fancy fashion stores as well as jewelers are abundant, I bought a new pair of cool winter boots. Of course, this was in the shopping center where Bauerfeind Italy is represented with sports supports and stockings!