Alexandra Engelhardt is the most successful in the district. In our Erdings Top 100 series, the mother of five takes 31st place.
Nuremberg / St. For Alexandra Engelhardt, née Demmel, Wolfgang wrestling was always a question of the family. She started with this martial art because her siblings at TSV St. Wolfgang did the same. And she was still on the mat as the coach of the German U17 team when she was a mother of five herself. In between, in addition to numerous other titles, there are four European Championship medals, six DM titles and participation in the Olympic Games in Beijing and London.
“It was the greatest. The Olympics cannot be compared to any other international competition, ”says the 37-year-old. “It starts with the clothing. Suddenly your fringe sport is the focus. And you meet other athletes in the German House to whom you look up a bit "
Engelhardt remembers Matthias Steiner, who becomes Olympic champion in Beijing. Olympia a single athletes party? Engelhardt is a competitive athlete who wants to achieve something. She is neither in Beijing nor in London at the opening ceremony. Such a kick-off party with the long wait before the march in, standing up and the other hardships of the party does not fit into the preparation of an athlete who worked two and a half weeks on weight loss in order to be prepared for the day of the fight. Because wrestling is not just the sport of handles and tricks. It's also about fighting weight, and at the Olympics that's another very special thing: There are only four weight classes in which all world-class athletes cavort. “This is one of the reasons why it's so difficult at the Olympics,” explains Engelhardt. “Everyone is there: the strong Europeans, but also the Asians and Americans. It's really hard to even qualify for this tournament. ”She did it. Less than three years after their son Felix was born.
Disregarded late bloomer
A St. Wolfgang woman at the Olympics - that was out of the question when the then 13-year-old stood on a mat for the first time. Her two brothers Johannes and Manuel were with the TSV wrestlers, her sister Tanja too. “That's why I started,” she says. Her mother wasn't exactly thrilled. "She wasn't for girl wrestling."
But the sports enthusiast does not give up. She has already tried athletics. She also likes tennis, "but you are always dependent on someone else having time". She plays soccer in the mixed E-youth of TSV St. Wolfgang. After that it is over there because she would have to switch to the girls' team in the D-Jugend, which TSV does not have.
Josef Reuther offers a wrestling course at school. This is the start. Then it's off to TSV, "where I simply had very good coaches," says Alexandra Engelhardt. Above all Albert Föstl, son-in-law of the founder of the department Reuther and who has been the driving force behind the Wolfgang wrestlers for decades.
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Another stroke of luck for the TSV is the Demmel family, who moved here from Munich and have now brought committed parents and four young wrestlers to the wrestling department. "But the focus was first on my brother Johannes," says Alexandra Engelhardt. “At first I wasn't taken that seriously. But that was also clear, because at the age of 13 I was a late starter and actually too old. ”And she said she wasn't blessed with great talent either. "But I always got through."
The best school was the hard battles with her brothers. She worked doggedly for two years, and the first titles at tournaments as well as district and state championships were not long in coming. The young Wolfgang woman wants more and moves to Unterföhring, "because two training units a week - that was not enough for me".
First DM title at the age of 19
The next step leads to VfB Siegfried Hallbergmoos, wrestling stronghold and home of countless German champions, including Brigitte Wagner, with whom she will fight many more fights over the years. Less than 18 years old, Alexandra Engelhardt won DM bronze in the weight class up to 46 kilos. In the following year she was the first German champion for women in the weight class up to 50 kg. This was followed by four silver medals, including three defeats in the final against club colleague Wagner - between 2007 and 2011 she won five DM titles.
Trouble with China's military
But the woman from Wolfgang, who is now fighting for KSG Ludwigshafen, has long been traveling all over the world: New York, Tokyo, Moscow, Baku, Budapest, Athens - she gets around a lot. An annual highlight: altitude training in Colorado Springs. “If you can be there, you know: you made it,” she says. In addition to the toil in the hall, the women in the squad always went on a sightseeing tour - and stocked up on clothes, especially in the USA. “We bought as much as we could fit in the suitcase. And bought an extra bag if necessary, ”she says with a laugh. It was once less funny in China when the team had their picture taken and the communist star was shown in the picture. That is strictly forbidden, she says. In fact, a teammate was arrested and locked up. “We were housed in a military facility. The whole team then had to line up in the room, and then the premises were examined by the officers. ”Even the strongest men got queasy. “The problem: We didn't understand the officers and they didn't understand us. You couldn't get on with English. "
Back to sport: In 2003 Alexandra Engelhardt won her first European Championship medal in Riga. At the World Cup in New York, she was unlucky with the draw and was already defeated in the second round by the multiple world champion Chiharu Icho from Japan.
Reception at the airport: Hallbergmoos and Wolfgang fans cheer for the 2003 European Championship returnees (from left): Brigitte Wagner (gold), Alexandra Demmel (bronze) and Christina and Annika Oertli.
© Albert Föstl
In 2005 the sport becomes secondary for the first time. Alexandra Demmel, meanwhile in the Bundeswehr sports group, marries her wrestler colleague Peter Engelhardt from Nuremberg. Son Felix is born.
However, she returned to the mat as early as 2006, drastically reducing her weight after pregnancy and time off from training. And how she returns: At the EM in Moscow she defeated the opponents from Russia, Poland and Spain in the 51 kilo class and only loses in the final against the French Vanessa Boubryemm. At the World Cup she starts in the 48-kilo class and sensationally beats the reigning European champion, only to be eliminated in the second round.
Beijing was more Olympic
This may sound surprising to outsiders, but Engelhardt explains: “Every fight at this level is close. They are all experienced international fighters. One carelessness - and you are thrown out. "
In 2008 the qualifying tournaments for the Olympics, first to Edmonton, then to Haparanda. Engelhardt finished third each time. That's not enough for the ticket to Beijing. But then she gets a quota place from the World Wrestling Federation, and now she has reached the goal of her dreams: at the most difficult tournament imaginable.
Engelhardt skips the opening ceremony - as mentioned above. “The Olympics take two and a half weeks. You can get into town just as the schedule allows. And I was there at the closing ceremony, ”she says.
Sweet temptation: The women's team of the German Wrestling Federation around Alexandra Engelhardt (2nd from right) was surprised with a specially created cake in 2012 before leaving for London for the Olympic Games.
© Imago
However, the tournament only consists of one fight. Engelhardt has to play against the Kazakh Tatjana Bakatjuk, a technically strong competitor against whom she lost in the Olympic qualification. This time, too, she lost both rounds by almost 0: 1. "Of course it was a disappointment," she says today. “Everyone who starts at the Olympics hopes for a medal.
But in the end the pride prevails that after the birth of their son they have found their way back to competitive sport. No, she didn't fall into a hole, she says. “My three-year-old son was waiting at home. And it didn't matter whether I won a medal. He was happy that mom is back. "
In addition, it was clear to her at the time that she wanted to start again in London in 2012. And she succeeds too. After two more European Championship bronze medals (2010 in Baku, 2012 in Belgrade), she secured the Olympic ticket again. “However, I was eliminated in the first fight. But that can happen to you at the Olympics, where really only the creme de la creme starts ”, Engelhardt states.
Career as a master confectioner
Can you compare the two summer games? “Beijing was the highlight,” she says. “The whole city was trimmed for the Olympics. That's how you were treated as an athlete. ”In London, the charm outside of the grounds has already been lost a little. "If you were using public transport, you quickly didn't notice that much of the Olympics."
Another difference: the exercise bike and her husband were in Beijing for twelve days. The family - that's their hold anyway. Family owner Felix is followed by three more sons and a daughter. She manages the balancing act between family and competitive sports because her husband is an athlete himself, ticks similarly and always supports her, as does her mother and mother-in-law as well as an older caretaker couple of the sports hall who take care of the children.
Engelhardt was 32 when she, the mum among the competitors, won silver again at the 2014 Military World Championship in Fort Dix (USA). In Schifferstadt, she is still training the U17 youngsters as a national coach before she finally gives up this position.
Before the World Cup in the USA: 21-year-old Alexandra always enjoyed traveling to the United States.
© Hermann Weingartner
In addition, she has created a professional foothold. In Isen, she once did an apprenticeship as a baker, she became a pastry chef in Grafing, and now, after completing 16 years in the army, she has done the masterpiece as a pastry chef.
“You just have to look at your Whattsapp status,” says her former trainer Albert Föstl. “You will find the most beautiful cakes there.” And he knows firsthand that they also taste great. His former wrestler student then conjured up his three-tier wedding cake.
Dieter Priglmeir
More portraits from our Erdings Top 100 series can be found on our overview page .