Morgenstern and Jukic voted Austrian Athletes of the Year
22/12/2008 16:20
Thomas Morgenstern (ski jumping) and Mirna Jukic (swimming) are the
Austrian Athletes of the Year for 2008 yesterday.
More than 300 members of
Sports Media Austria voted this year for the nation's top athletes including the
team of the year. In the category the ski jumping squad with Morgenstern, Martin
Koch, Gregor Schlierenzauer and Andreas Kofler were the winners.
Morgenstern
had a tight win against Judoka Ludwig Paischer (silver medallist at the Olympics
judo of 60kg).
"I have been sportsman of the year before, but only with the
team. To win the individual category is a special moment for me," the
22-year-old Morgenstern said.
The Olympic gold medal winner from Torino 2006
(large hill) kicked off a sensational season in 2007-2008. He was the first ski
jumper in history to win six world cup events in a season. He won the World Cup
last season, and his victory was clear six events before the season's
end.
Jukic, also 22 years of age, is Austria's most successful swimmer ever.
Born in Croatia, she came to Austria in 1999 to Austria and received Austrian
citizenship a year later.
When she was just 16, Mirna won her first gold
medal at the European Championships 2002 in Berlin (200 metre breaststroke).
After long battle with glandular fever she made a comeback in 2007at the short
track Europeans and claimed silver.
2008 was a great year for Jukic with gold
(100m), silver (200m)and bronze (50m) at the Europeans in Eindhoven, and then
bronze at the Olympics (100m breaststroke).
All together she has 21 medals
and holds 13 national records. In the SMA election she won clearly ahead of
Violetta Peters-Oblinger, the Olympic bronze medallist in canoe, and Christiane
Soeder, runner-up in cycling world championships.
Special award went to
Matthias Lanzinger, a former ski racer, who had a serious crash on March 2 in
the Kvitfjel Super G when he sustained an open broken leg with complications of
blood loss and poor circulation.
The rescue helicopter came late and the
first hospital could not help him. They then flew to Oslo but it was too late,
Lanzinger lost his leg. He became a popular figure in Austria after this
accident because of his constant positive attitude and sympathetic
character.
"It's the first time since my accident that I have tears in my
eyes," Lanzinger said.
Xinhua
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