Frank Luck (born 5 December 1967) is a German and, before 1990,

East German East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from its formation on 7 October 1949 until its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on 3 October 1990. Until 1989, it was generally vie ...

former biathlete.

Career

Luck started early with

cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreational activity; however, some still use it as a m ...

, but in 1980 he went over to biathlon. By 1988 at the age of 21 he had already qualified for the

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 ...

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

, where he finished sixth in the sprint event. His big breakthrough came with the 10 km sprint world title in 1989. Having originally competed for the East German team, by 1991, Germany had unified and Luck was now competing for the combined Germany team. Because of illness he missed the

1992 Winter Olympics The 1992 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVI Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Albertville '92 (Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile '92''), were a winter multi-sport event held from 8 to 23 February 1992 in and aroun ...

Albertville Albertville (; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Regions of France, region in Southeastern France. It is best k ...

, but at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, were an international winter multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 February 1994 in and around Lillehammer, Norway. Hav ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the munici ...

he won the gold medal with the German relay team which he repeated four years later at the

1998 Winter Olympics The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 (), were a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Nagano, Nagano, Nagano Prefecture, Japan, with some events ...

in Nagano. During his seventeen-year career, Luck won eleven world championship gold medal with the last one in the relay in 2004 at Oberhof where he retired as a biathlete after this event. With five silver and three bronze medals he is one of the most successful world championship competitors of all time. Luck also won three times at the Holmenkollen ski festival biathlon competition with two wins in the pursuit (1999, 2000) and one win in the sprint (2002). He is the Brother-in-law to his one-time teammate Sven Fischer.

Doping

In April 2009, Luck, on the German TV show ''Sport Inside'' ( WDR), acknowledged having unwittingly been given the anabolic steroid Oral Turinabol by his trainer in the 1980s.Biathlon: Ex-Biathlet Frank Luck entlastet Ullrich
focus.de, 7 April 2009

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the

International Biathlon Union The International Biathlon Union (IBU; ) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the city. It was rocked by a corruption ...

Olympic Games

''5 medals (2 gold, 3 silver)'' :''*Pursuit was added as an event in 2002.''

World Championships

''20 medals (11 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze)'' :''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.'' :''**Team was removed as an event in 1998, and pursuit was added in 1997 with mass start being added in 1999.''

Individual victories

''12 victories (1 In, 9 Sp, 2 Pu)'' :''*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...

Biathlon World Championships The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The original team event, Team (time), was held for the last time in 1965, to be replaced in 1966 by the team event, Relay (4 × 7.5 km) ...

and the

Winter Olympic Games 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 in ...

.''

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Luck, Frank 1967 births Living people People from Schmalkalden Biathletes from Thuringia National People's Army sportspeople German male biathletes Biathletes at the 1988 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1994 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Olympics Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic biathletes for East Germany East German male biathletes Olympic biathletes for Germany Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics Olympic medalists in biathlon Olympic silver medalists for Germany Olympic gold medalists for Germany Biathlon World Championships medalists Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Doping cases in biathlon German sportspeople in doping cases Sportspeople from Bezirk Suhl