Josef Feistmantl (23 February 1939 – 10 March 2019) was an Austrian

luge A luge () is a small one- or two-person sled on which one sleds Supine position, supine (face-up) and feet-first. A luger begins seated, propelling themselves initially from handles on either side of the start ramp, then steers by using the Ca ...

r who competed from the mid-1950s to the early 1970s. He competed at three Olympic Games.

Biography

Feistmantl was born in Absam. Competing in two

Winter Olympics The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, 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 held i ...

, he won the gold medal in the men's doubles event at the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 (), were a winter multi-sport event which was celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from January 29 to February 9, 1964. The city was a ...

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; ) is the capital of Tyrol (federal state), Tyrol and the List of cities and towns in Austria, fifth-largest city in Austria. On the Inn (river), River Inn, at its junction with the Wipptal, Wipp Valley, which provides access to the ...

along with Manfred Stengl. Feistmantl also won five medals in the men's singles event at the

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non-Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natural ...

with one gold (

1969 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1969th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 969th year of the 2nd millennium, the 69th year of the 20th century, and the ...

- the first Worlds to be held on an artificial track, at

Königssee The Königssee () is a natural lake in the southeast Berchtesgadener Land district of the German state of Bavaria, near the Austrian border. Most of the lake is within the Berchtesgaden National Park. Description Situated within the Bercht ...

), two silvers (

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

), and two bronzes (

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

). He also won two medals in the men's doubles event at the

FIL European Luge Championships The FIL European Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place since 1914. From 1914 to 1934, these championships were part of the Internationaler Schlittensportsverband (ISSV - International Sled Sport Federa ...

with one gold (

) and one silver (

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

). After his 1969 World Championship win, he donated the medal to the Polish team after their luger Stanisław Paczka had been killed whilst in competition at the Championships: Feistmantl stated that he "wanted to set a positive example". That year the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; , CIO) is the international, non-governmental, sports governing body of the modern Olympic Games. Founded in 1894 by Pierre de Coubertin and Demetrios Vikelas, it is based i ...

awarded him a Fair Play Prize for his gesture. At the opening ceremonies of the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (, ) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 (), were a winter multi-sport event celebrated in Innsbruck, Austria, from February 4 to 15, 1976. The games were awarded to Inn ...

, Feistmantl and fellow Austrian alpine skier Christl Haas were lighters of separate

Olympic Flame The Olympic flame is a Olympic symbols, symbol used in the Olympic movement. It is also a symbol of continuity between ancient and modern games. The Olympic flame is lit at Olympia, Greece, several months before the Olympic Games. This ceremony s ...

s as defined by Innsbruck's hosting of their second

. He subsequently cited this as his fondest memory. Feistmantl was inducted into the

International Luge Federation The International Luge Federation (French language, French: ''Fédération Internationale de Luge'' (FIL); German language, German: ''Internationaler Rennrodelverband'') is the main international federation for all luge sports. Founded by 13 nat ...

Hall of Fame in 2005 along with Hans Rinn.

References

External links

FIL-Luge.org March 14, 2005 article on the new FIL Hall of Fame, including Feistmantl's induction.
- accessed 8 March 2008. * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Feistmantl, Josef 1939 births 2019 deaths Austrian male lugers Olympic lugers for Austria Olympic gold medalists for Austria Lugers at the 1964 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1968 Winter Olympics Lugers at the 1972 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in luge Medalists at the 1964 Winter Olympics Olympic cauldron lighters 20th-century Austrian sportsmen