Karate fighter on all mats

In our series "Erdings Top 100" Irmi Borgs takes place 95.

Erding – Rather by chance, Irmgard Borgs came across the sport, which was to have such a lasting impact on her life.

And it could have been over very quickly: In 1984, she started karate at the age of 15 – at that time still as Irmgard Gerst – at the age of 15, “because a friend really wanted to try it,” recalls the current black belt wearer (6th Dan ).

After half a year she has had enough and wants to stop again.

But then a new coach was announced in the youth group of TSV Erding.

Then she thought: "Well, if we get a woman, then I'll take a look at it."

In 1985 the new trainer arrives, in 1986 the young Gerst takes part in her first competition.

“I really enjoyed working with her,” says the girl from Erding – not just the training, but also the competitions.

Although the first participation is tearful.

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Always in action: The young Irmgard Gerst at the Bavarian championship.

The perfectionist: "The photo is beautiful, but the leg is raised incorrectly."

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There are two forms of competition and training in karate.

The kata, quasi shadow boxing, and the kumite, the fight against others.

"I didn't necessarily go into kumite prepared," she reveals, laughing.

Your opponent, on the other hand, does.

It was a drastic experience, "but I continued anyway."

The young people train more and more, harder and harder.

She is celebrating more and more successes with the kata team, taking second and third places at Bavarian level.

In 1988 Borgs was included in the national team.

"That's when things really got going for me," recalls the 53-year-old.

And that, although her first participation in the first German master class is sobering.

After the first round, the competition is over for them.

In the evening she watches the final.

When she sees the top six on the podium, she thinks to herself: "I'd like to be there too." No sooner said than done.

Just one year later, Borgs is among the top six in kata and finishes the competition with a place on the podium.

"It happened pretty quickly," she says.

At this point, kumite only played a subordinate role for the young woman.

It was a rational decision, she says and laughs: "I kept a tally where I win more often: kata or kumite."

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The Borgs family: Stefan, Katharina (19), Zaru (15) and Irmgard.

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In the state squad, she trains kumite a little longer.

The association from North Rhine-Westphalia promptly asked and borrowed the Erdinger for an international competition in Finland: "That was pretty hopplahopp."

What Borgs now describes as "my most successful year" follows: In 1989 she became German Junior Champion and International German Champion.

"That was really cool, and I was actually just more or less lucky." Because the German champion and favorite of the competition had been disqualified shortly before the competition: she hadn't lined up properly.

"I went into it without any great ambitions," admits Borgs today.

Everyone would have wobbled in this competition, she was lucky and had a kata "where I could wobble a lot".

The fact that she became German Junior Champion two months later underscores her success.

And not only shows the others, but also herself, that her victory has nothing to do with luck, but with a good deal of skill.

The reward is acceptance into the federal squad.

Except for once, Borgs is always in the top six there - once even in third place.

At the same time, she is more or less consistently Bavarian champion, as the 53-year-old remarks in passing, and is part of the state squad for international competitions through TSV Erding: "We were German champions umpteen years in a row."

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With daughter Katharina in her arms, Irmgard Borgs trained at the Sinnflut Festival.

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But the Erdinger athlete can also look back on less glamorous achievements during her career: With a laugh, she talks about the various times she fell during a competition.

Once because she trips over her own foot.

"It was super embarrassing," she says, adding with a smile: "Fortunately, that feeling isn't as present today."

Her private happiness is also linked to karate.

In 1988 she met Stefan Borgs, who also trained at TSV.

In 1994 they will marry.

Her children Katharina and Zaru are now 19 and 15 years old.

Parallel to her career as an active athlete, which she ended at the end of the 1990s, Borgs worked as an official and became department head at TSV Erding in 1993.

This is followed by work as a youth officer in the district, referee, state trainer for schoolchildren and, with interruptions, in the state squad to this day.

For one year she was Vice President of TSV Erding and since 2005 Vice President of the Bavarian Karate Federation, where she now works full-time as an accountant.

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Trainer and official: At a World Cup celebration, Irmgard Borgs (3rd from left) congratulates the successful Rita Sieber (8th from left). 

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She finally ended her active career because of her business studies.

"I trained very hard," she says.

"I didn't want to train any other way because I was so fit.

But I also wanted to complete my studies.” If she had known then that her professional path would continue to be closely intertwined with karate, she would have adjusted to it professionally, she says today.

At that time, however, it was clear to the athlete: There is no money to be made with karate.

And she is happy about her degree: she enjoys being able to work as a trainer on the one hand and giving space to commercial aspects of her life on the other.

And she knows about the association's policy.

"It's good to have another mainstay," says the woman from Erding.

Don't you miss the sport?

"In principle yes," is Borgs' simple answer.

Again and again she flirts with starting to take the master class again.

"But I just have too high demands on myself," she admits.

Too high demands that she would have to meet in order to actively start karate again and too high demands that she would then have to achieve in sport.

When she stopped back then, she looked back very wistfully, she says.

Meanwhile, the longing is no longer so great.

"It's also nice to pass on your knowledge to the athletes," explains the 53-year-old.

She has trained various students who have also become very successful themselves.

She is currently training a performance group again, “I have a lot of fun with it”.

Above all, it is nice to see how the karate landscape has changed over time.

In the past, you only had the opportunity to take part in competitions through the state squad.

There is now a portal where you can easily register.

"We've used that a lot in recent years." In 2014, for example, she was in Istanbul with her training group.

And she also grazed in the area with her protégés,

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Maelle Locoge (left) is one of the Borgs protégés.

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"Today it's much easier to see what's going on with the others, what the competition is doing," she explains.

"It also leads to a much larger community." Going to competitions and getting a taste of competition still gives her great pleasure.

"If you get someone into the German championship, that's a real highlight as a coach," says Borgs.

Sport has given her many moments that she likes to look back on, she explains.

Finding out in the middle of puberty that she was good at something was a great feeling, she remembers.

And it was a "very good time", which made her more self-confident and in which she got to know herself and found out what she was capable of.

"I have experienced the karate world with all its ups and downs," emphasizes the Erdingerin.

What she has actually achieved and what she is actually giving up, she only noticed after the end of her karate career, because as an athlete you are constantly under criticism - especially your own: very often she was dissatisfied with herself, I always found the strength to motivate myself.

Today Borgs knows: "You have to recognize the potential in yourself."