Olympia 1972: Anneliese Reinthaler keeps Albert Arsajan's referee's emblem
Created: 07/09/2022 13:58
By: Jonas Napiletzki
Together with her sister-in-law Gitti Engelhard, her sister Traudi Bauer and (right) friend Christl Holzmüller, Anneliese Reinthaler got the seat in the front row through her brother Toni Engelhard.
He organized the gymnastics competitions at the 1972 Olympics.
© Private
Anneliese Reinthaler from Schliersee keeps Albert Arsajan's referee's emblem.
She was employed as an assistant at the 1972 Olympics in Munich.
Schliersee
– Usually the pin of the multiple Olympic champion Albert Asarjan hangs on a kind of pin board in Schliersee.
Anneliese Reinthaler has been watching over the wall decoration, which is covered with fine fabric, for exactly 50 years. She only took off the emblem for the photo.
Attached to a piece of cardboard, the 76-year-old carefully unwraps it from a white envelope, the corners of her mouth curling into a broad smile.
"He gave it to me," says Reinthaler.
It is the pin worn by the Armenian gymnast Azarian at the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich – as a judge.
"And I was his assistant."
In 1972, as his assistant, Anneliese Reinthaler typed the results for the chief referee into her "apparatus".
© Private
Reinthaler is the sister of Toni Engelhard, the man who organized the Olympic gymnastics competitions in Munich (we reported).
She is also fond of sports herself, her enthusiasm for gymnastics is rooted in TSV Schliersee.
Reinthaler was all the more pleased about the honor of traveling to Munich with her sister-in-law Gitti Engelhard, her sister Traudi Bauer and her friend Christl Holzmüller as assistant judges.
"Of course we worked," says Reinthaler and smiles.
Of course, there was still time to watch – and this may have been even more important for the young women.
Eberhard Gienger, who as a German gymnast was the hope for home fans at the time, was within reach.
Anneliese Reinthaler has fond memories of the 1972 Olympic Games
Reinthaler had received training and sat in the front row for a total of eight days to pass on the results.
Referee Asarjan took notes, the then 26-year-old from Schliersee typed his notes into an electronic device on her table in her new Olympic costume.
The ratings went straight to the chief referee.
The mood, says Reinthaler, was great.
Nobody suspected anything of the subsequent assassination.
"It wasn't loud, more like a tense silence, but people went along with it." Each gymnast was rewarded with clapping.
Even the ones that didn't do so well.
The woman from Schliersee was also there this year at the European Championships.
Not as an assistant judge.
She was a spectator.
“The atmosphere was similar this year,” says Reinthaler.
And yet sports competitions were even more special back then, and spectating was even more important.
"Television didn't exist in the form it has today." If you wanted Ultra HD, you had to be in the stands.
At that time, however, people said about the unusual roofs of the Olympic Stadium: "For God's sake." Today Reinthaler says: "A great idea."
Arsajan gave Reinthaler his referee emblem
After the games, the TSV girls stayed in Munich, they were offered rooms right next to the hall.
Before they stayed the night, they went out together and celebrated in the Olympic stronghold.
"Of course not for too long," says Reinthaler and winks.
You had to work.
Lucky: Anneliese Reinthaler received the emblem from Olympic judge Albert Arsajan.
© Thomas Plettenberg
But the real reward was yet to come.
"Right at the end, Azarian gave me his emblem," the 76-year-old recalls.
"After all, it was the most famous referee." He was tall and athletic, although he was already 53.
The woman from Schliersee did not speak his language;
Arsajan could not speak German either.
"But we understood each other with hands and feet, how to do it that way," says Reinthaler, while gesturing with both arms.
Her enthusiasm for gymnastics has stayed with her to this day, as has the pin.
"I got lucky."
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