Andreas "Andi" Goldberger (born 29 November 1972) is an Austrian former

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

. He became the first man in history to jump over

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

in 1994, although he didn't manage to stand.

Career

He won the

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

overall titles three times (

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

, 1996), the

Four Hills Tournament The Four Hills Tournament (german: link=no, Vierschanzentournee) or the German-Austrian Ski Jumping Week (german: link=no, Deutsch-Österreichische Skisprung-Woche) is a ski jumping event composed of four World Cup events and has taken place in ...

twice (1992/93, 1994/95), with multiple medals in the Nordic World Championships and

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...

. Despite his success at ski jumping, Goldberger preferred

ski flying Ski flying is a winter sport discipline derived from ski jumping, in which much greater distances can be achieved. It is a form of competitive individual Nordic skiing where athletes descend at high speed along a specially designed takeoff r ...

—a more extreme version of normal ski jumping, in which distances are far greater. On 17 March 1994, during training for the Ski Flying World Championships on Velikanka bratov Gorišek in

Planica Planica () is an Alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hiking ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, he recorded a jump of 202 metres (663 ft); this made him the first man to ever to jump over two hundred metres, but he touched the snow upon landing, thus making the jump invalid as an official world record (Finland's

Toni Nieminen Toni Markus Nieminen (born 31 May 1975) is a Finnish former ski jumper who competed from 1991 to 2004, with a brief comeback in 2016. He is one of the most successful ski jumpers from Finland, having won both the World Cup overall title and th ...

would later land a 203 m jump at the same event). On 18 March 2000, he set the ski jumping world record distance at 225 metres (738 ft) on Velikanka bratov Gorišek in

It stood for the next three years.

World Cup

Standings

Wins

Ski jumping world records

Not recognized! Ground touch at world record distance, but first ever jump over 200 metres.

Controversy

In 1997 Goldberger admitted to the use of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly used recreationally for its euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from the leaves of two Coca species native to South Ameri ...

, and was given a six-month ban from the Austrian Ski Association. As a result of that ban, in November 1997, he even declared he would, from that moment on, compete under the flag of the

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Serbia and Montenegro ( sr, Cрбија и Црна Гора, translit=Srbija i Crna Gora) was a country in Southeast Europe located in the Balkans that existed from 1992 to 2006, following the breakup of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yu ...

.It's Not Easy To Be a Serb
Yet, after reaching an agreement with the Austrian Ski Association, he continued competing for his native Austria.

End of career

Goldberger last World Cup appearance as a ski jumper was in Lahti on 6 March 2005 (49 place). Goldberger officially retired and ended his career with his final jump as a test jumper on 13 January 2006 at flying hill in Kulm, Austria. He jumps at World Cup competition as a test jumper with helmet cam for Austrian national TV station

ORF ORF or Orf may refer to: * Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF * Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute * One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel * Open reading frame, a portion of the ...

, where he works as a co-commentator.

References

External links

* * – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file * {{DEFAULTSORT:Goldberger, Andreas 1972 births Austrian male ski jumpers Austrian sportspeople in doping cases Doping cases in ski jumping Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Living people Olympic bronze medalists for Austria Olympic ski jumpers of Austria Ski jumpers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Ski jumpers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in ski jumping FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in ski jumping Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics World record setters in ski flying People from Ried im Innkreis District 20th-century Austrian people