Even at the age of 70, Hans Estner is still called Hansi.
This nickname is also associated with his great sporting successes at SC Wall and for German biathlon sport.
Wall - "Ois Guade, Hansi".
The congratulatory slogan for a birthday tends to indicate a child based on the nickname.
But today it means a seasoned seventy.
Hansi Estner from Wall celebrates a round.
The 1980 Olympic medal winner from Lake Pacid can only gather a small group due to the pandemic.
The son, the two grandchildren and the wife.
That's it then.
But he doesn't quarrel.
The former biathlon model athlete approaches his special day with an eye for the essentials and the possible.
But Estner has always had this attitude in all situations.
"In terms of age, I'm really satisfied," the sprightly senior explains about his state of health.
A cruciate ligament tear that he sustained while playing soccer pinches every now and then.
But that's about it.
And when the language turns to football, the gleam in his eyes increases.
Kick at and for the SC Wall.
With an unrivaled 376 goals, he is the club's record goalscorer to this day.
It was not until he was 53 years old that Estner ended his active career.
Estner a late starter
The term career, however, applies to a sport that has nothing in common with the leather ball.
It's biathlon.
The fascination of endurance sports in the cross-country ski run and precision with the rifle.
"Sepp Kuhn was significantly involved," remembers Estner of the first pioneer.
Kuhn, a football coach in Wall, sent his boys to the cross-country ski run in the winter months to keep them fit.
Hansi Estner and his cousin Sepp Estner had no cross-country skis, only alpine skis.
The first thing to do was to remedy the situation.
His talent in the cross-country ski run and even more the will to constantly approach the performance limit helped Estner to get a place at the ski train in Mittenwald, the later sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr.
In a room with Franz Keller.
It was the speed skating legend that persuaded the catfish to train not only on the cross-country ski trail, but also at the shooting range.
“I was a late starter,” says Estner, recalling that he was already 20 in his first big race.
Nominated for the English military championship in Scharnitz, he immediately won the title.
From then on, Estner's biathlon career went uphill.
Estner: "We were the kings"
Appointed to the national team in 1973, he won the German championship title three winters later with the relay and the runner-up in the individual sprint.
For the 1976 Olympic Games, Estner was in the closest circle.
In the final elimination race for a starting place in Innsbruck, however, he was sick.
He ran anyway and went beyond his performance limit.
At the finish, Estner collapsed unconscious, came to the hospital with the Sanka - qualification failed.
“I was deeply disappointed and wanted to quit competitive sport,” explains the then 25-year-old, “but coaches and colleagues have persuaded me well.
Then I just stayed with it. "
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After his Olympic success, Estner received a portrait and a medal from the chairman at the time, Hans Stumböck.
© Private
Success proved him right.
In 1977, at the World Championships in Lillehammer, the catfish captured fourth place in the sport dominated by Russians and athletes from the Eastern Bloc at the time.
A sensational result.
The best placement for a Central European since records began in 1928. In Lillehammer, the paper disks and balloons were replaced for the first time by the folding disks that are common today.
At the 1978 World Cup in Hochfilzen, Estner won third place in the relay.
In Germany, which is still five federal states smaller, a top result.
The then 29-year-old was called to the Olympic team for Lake Pacid with long-term success and was placed here in the relay.
And even if the starting runner Franz Bernreiter only handed over in 13th, Estner ran as if it were for his life.
Flawlessly in shooting and with a cross-country ski run, which later earned him the journalist's prize for the greatest fighting performance, he tapped off in seventh place.
Peter Angerer improved the team to third place, and the final runner, Gerd Winkler, captured the bronze medal that even the greatest optimists had never dreamed of.
“We were the kings.
The first West German Olympic medal in biathlon, ”said Estner of appearances in the current sports studio, at Blickpunkt Sport and the presentation of the silver laurel leaf by Federal President Carl Karstens.
But there was also a lot of celebrations in his home community.
For Estner the most emotional honor.
Estner is still regularly in his sports shop
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The autograph card after the winter games.
© Private
Despite all these superlatives, only a year later, the catfish put aside his rifle and cross-country battles.
He ended his career at the age of only 30.
The association did not want to let him go and offered him the job of national coach.
But he saved himself the three years of sports school for the A license.
“What would a catfish have done in Cologne,” jokes Estner.
He had just built, had left the woman alone for far too long and had seen the three-year-old son far too seldom.
“Biathlon has given me a lot.
I've seen the whole world, ”said Waller, summing up his career.
Thanks to his career, Estner can tell many stories.
33 hours to get to a race on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
Events in Japan, the USA, Scandinavia and Russia and by Alexander Tichonow, the world's best biathlete at the time.
“The Tiganov was a wuida dog.
And drink up your chin, ”remembers Estner.
The fact that Tiganov's real name is Tichonow is lost in the stories.
Turning away from competitive sports, the Waller opened a sports shop in Bad Wiessee, where he can still be found regularly almost four decades later.
Many who visit him there speak to him as Hansi.
Even with a 70-year-old, no style break.
Because as a Hansi, the whole Estner region got to know and appreciate.