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Tim Lobinger during a TV interview in 2018
Photo: Eventpress MP / IMAGO / Eventpress
The seriously ill pole vault world champion Tim Lobinger (50) reports on his tough fight against cancer.
»There will be no more healing for me.
My cancer is too aggressive,” said the 50-year-old of the “Bild” newspaper.
In February, doctors told him his death was near.
He should make arrangements, deal with his funeral and say goodbye to his loved ones.
»The conversations with my children were tough.
You know how bad I am.”
Lobinger was diagnosed with blood cancer in March 2017.
After chemotherapy, stem cell donations, intermittent relapses and a brief liver failure in the summer of 2018, the 2003 indoor world champion was considered healthy again.
According to Lobinger, he had to undergo therapy again in 2020 and received additional radiation.
However, the athlete has not given up the fight against cancer: "There are always small ways that allow you to gain strength and not lose hope," he said.
Every day that he lives and is allowed to spend with his family is worth fighting for, he said.
In the spring of 2022, his renewed illness became public.
At the time, Lobinger said he wanted to continue fighting the disease.
»If I drag myself on for another two or three years, there will definitely be another therapy option that can help me – and if my chance is only one percent, I will take it.«
Lobinger was the face of German pole vaulters for years and in 1997 the first German jumper to break the six-meter mark outdoors.
In 2003, the now 50-year-old won gold at the World Indoor Championships for track and field athletes in Birmingham.
Lobinger won a total of three medals at the outdoor European Championships.
After the end of his sports career in 2012, the four-time Olympic participant worked for four years as an athletic trainer for the RB Leipzig football team and returned to Munich with his family in 2016.
There he set up a training center as a specialist for top athletes.
ara/dpa
