The story of German bob, luge, and skeleton athletes and the "white dragon" more and more turns into a love story at the 2022 Beijing winter games.
Enthusiastic shouts filled the air on Saturyda around the National sliding center, dubbed the "Snow Dragon" when Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi added another chapter to the successful medal harvest.
The 23 and 24-year-old athletes couldn't hide their emotions after taking gold in the two-women bog sleigh event ahead of compatriots, the silver-winning duo Mariama Jamanka and Alexandra Burghardt.
While eight gold, five silver, and one bronze medal stand for a historic result ahead of the remaining four-man-event on Sunday, Nolte and Levi provided a new enchanting episode from a German perspective perfect Olympics.
Regarding Nolte, it's not only her desire to add color to bob sports by wearing pink gloves, a pink head, and sitting on a pink-colored seat in her sled.
"When I joined the sport, everything was in black or metal, I thought we better change that and get some color to it," she explained.
Germany's rising star stands for unleashed desire and joy of sports. She not only appeared on the podium in six of seven World Cup races in the 2021-2022 season but made a stunning journey to the top.
In 2015 the former track-and-field athlete applied for a pushing test at the German bob association.
Only two months later she participated in her first race followed by the victory at the Youth Olympic Games in Lillehammer in Norway in 2016 in the mono-bob event.
"Two months after the test I hopped into a bobsleigh and was terrified in advance of my first race. But I discovered it is so much fun," she commented.
The desire of the business psychology student for bob driving increased over the years getting to a climax in Yanqing. "I have never seen a more impressive track. We got along with its typology right from the start. I still can't believe what we have done," she said.
The close friendship of Nolte and Levi might have helped to control their nervousness. "It's Olympics, it's the paramount thing for athletes. Before the first two runs, I couldn't eat properly. My feet were shaking," she said.
She had difficulties getting her message through right after crossing the finish line as she was constantly interrupted by loud cries of joy from her teammate.
The athletes sent greetings to all of their relatives in Germany not forgetting about brothers, sisters, parents, grandmas, and grandpas.
Like Nolte, Jamaka's break-woman Alexandra Burghardt stands for a new generation of athletes combining two sports.
Burghardt last summer attended the summer Olympics in Tokyo as Germany's number one sprinter. She narrowly missed the final of the 100-meter event.
Shortly after she accepted an offer to try bob-driving as the winter sport perfectly fits her summer activities. "To now win a silver medal at the Beijing Games is like a fairy tale to me," she said. -
