Touching obituary of the family: Emotional farewell to the "Gold-Rosi"
Created: 01/13/2023, 19:00
By: Tanja Brinkmann
A good team: Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther are preparing for the ARD program "Star Biathlon".
© Ursula Düren/dpa
After the death of Rosi Mittermaier, her family found touching words in the obituary.
These show how brave the former ski star was, but also how satisfied with her life.
"Are you afraid of death?" the little prince asked the rose.
To which she replied: "But no.
I have lived, I have flourished and I have used my powers as much as I could.
And love, given a thousandfold, returns to the one who gave it.
So I want to wait for the new life and wither without fear and despair."
A happy family: the two ski stars with their daughter Ameli, who was born in 1981.
© imago/Rolf Hayo imago/Rolf Hayo
Garmisch-Partenkirchen – That touches the heart.
And shows the close ties between the Mittermaier-Neureuther family.
With a very emotional obituary, husband Christian, the children Ameli and Felix Neureuther with his wife Miriam and the grandchildren Oskar, Mathilda, Leo and Lotta say goodbye to their beloved wife, mother and grandmother in the Munich Merkur.
With a quote from "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, they show how bravely Rosi Mittermaier, who died at the age of 72, dealt with her serious cancer.
The lines also show that the ski legend lived a full and happy life.
She spent more than 50 years at her husband's side.
"My life person", as she called him.
Getting to know each other: Christian Neureuther lands at Rosi Mittermaier's feet
The innkeeper's daughter from Reit im Winkl and her future husband met – appropriately – on the ski slopes.
In 1966 she saw her Christian for the first time.
She was 15 and he was 16.
Rosi watched the male offspring at a race.
Neureuther threaded, fell and landed at her feet.
"And he laughed," she said in a portrait for Bavarian Radio.
"The first thing I thought was, 'He's nice.'
Normally people are rather grumpy then.”
The most important congratulator: "Gold-Rosi" congratulates the slalom star Christian Neureuther on his victory in Kitzbühel in 1979.
© imago sport photo service
The young people had no idea at the time that this would become love for life.
They slowly approached each other.
Wrote letters, eagerly awaited the postman.
She knitted hats for him.
They also met again and again at races.
They couldn't keep their connection a secret for long.
The ski association and sports journalists got what was going on.
It became obvious at the 1972 Winter Olympics in Sapporo/Japan.
Neureuther and his Spezl gained access to the women's village.
Some climbed over the fence in the dark.
The man from Garmisch-Partenkirch got hold of the women's Olympic outfit – hat, sunglasses, jacket – mingled with a group of women and so passed the guards unseen.
But when the young couple sneaked out of the Olympic Village,
in view of an undisturbed twosome evening in a remote bar, it hit a number of German reporters.
Her secret was out.
Nobody wrote about it back then.
Rosi-Hype is created in Innsbruck - she has already given her heart away
Four years later in Innsbruck it was different.
In a national newspaper, Neureuther was dubbed a "Rosi friend".
"I'm crazy for her," he was quoted as saying.
Photos of the two with Rosi Mittermaier's gold medal bear witness to this.
Another one and one in silver followed and led to a Rosi hype.
To the astonishment of the 25-year-old, for whom a podium place was never decisive: "When you meet other athletes in the Olympic Village, talk to them, make friends.
That's what the Olympics is about," she emphasized to the daily newspaper.
After the Tyrolean "Rosi-Spiele" mountains of fan mail, marriage proposals and other offers landed at home on the Winklmoosalm.
She had given her heart away long ago.
also read
Funeral of Rosi Mittermaier: When, where and with whom - what is known so far
TO READ
"Lovable, very down-to-earth and socially committed": Rosi Mittermaier has left her mark
TO READ
Winter interim balance: Zugspitzbahn has so far gotten away with a black eye in the Garmisch-Partenkirchner Classic area
TO READ
Missing person search in Garmisch-Partenkirchen: vacationer found
TO READ
Mild winter, no World Cup, no Russians: The January hole in Garmisch-Partenkirchen is getting bigger
TO READ
Fancy a voyage of discovery?
My space
A beautiful couple: After the church wedding in St. Anton in 1980, the ski stars kiss for the photographers.
© imago sport photo service
In 1980 the wedding bells rang - at the registry office in Reit im Winkl, where "Gold-Rosi" appeared in a chic lilac suit.
Two weeks later, the winter sports dream couple tied the knot in front of God.
The two married in traditional costume in the pilgrimage church of St. Anton above Partenkirchen.
Many celebrities from the sports world witnessed this event, as did thousands of onlookers.
In the future, Mittermaier and Neureuther only appeared as a double – on TV appearances, for example as judges on the cult show “Dalli Dalli”, at social events and many other appointments.
Mittermaier acted as co-commentator at the 1992 Winter Games in Albertville, as well as advertising appearances, recordings - Christmas carols with her husband and sister Evi and the pop song "Enorm in Form" - and her social commitment,
among other things as patron of the Children's Rheumatism Foundation.
Regardless of the hype surrounding her, "Gold-Rosi" retained her naturalness and cordiality throughout her life.
And gratitude.
"What I was allowed to experience is great, it's great," she said in 2020 in a television interview on her 70th birthday.
Excursion with the children: Rosi Mittermaier and Christian Neureuther cycle through Garmisch-Partenkirchen with their daughter Ameli and son Felix.
© imago sport photo service
Mittermaier lived down to earth, scandal-free, close to nature.
She passed that on.
Daughter Ameli (41), who works as a fashion designer, and son Felix (38), who was a successful ski racer himself, and the four grandchildren crowned their family happiness.
The bonds were and are tight.
This is also reflected in the emotional message that Felix Neureuther shared on Instagram after her death.
To a picture of himself as a child in his mother's arms, he writes: "You showed me the stars.
Now you are one yourself.
Thank you for everything dear mom.”
The last wish: burial in the closest family and friends
In August 2022, Rosi Mittermaier was diagnosed with cancer.
"The disease started in the abdomen," says a family friend to the colorful.
"The metastases quickly affected other organs." At the end of November, Mittermaier came to the Großhadern Clinic in Munich.
Due to Corona, only one member of the family was allowed to be by her side at any one time.
When her husband Christian came, he prepared semolina porridge for her in the ward kitchen, according to the magazine.
In the end she could hardly eat anything else.
When the doctors announced in mid-December that there was no more hope, the ski legend just wanted to go home to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.
Surrounded by her family, Rosi Mittermaier passed away peacefully on January 4th.
Her last wish: to be buried quietly with her closest family and friends.
