German biathlete Uschi Disl: biography, achievements and victories

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Several years ago, not a single world biathlon competition took place without the German athlete Usha Disl. For a decade and a half, she was constantly among the leaders in all disciplines in the individual competition and represented the German team in team competitions.

Who is Uschi Diesel?

Ursula (Ursula "Uschi" Disl) entered the history of skiing with different titles. Her name takes pride of place in the list of the best German biathletes. She is also on the list of the ten most titled athletes in the world of women's biathlon. Ushi Disl made her first official start for the national team at the age of 19. She participated in five Olympics (from 1992 to 2006), and climbed the podium at all.

Stably played for the national team at the stages of the World Cup from 1991 to 2005. She was a multiple winner, having medals of all merits in her arsenal. It did not differ in stable shooting, but due to its high speed at a distance, it was constantly among the potential leaders and contenders for awards. Graduatedperformances in big biathlon in 2006, after winning bronze in the mass start of the Olympic Games in Turin.

Biography Uschi Diesel

The outstanding biathlete was born in 1970. It happened on November 15 in Germany, in Bavaria, in the city of Bad Tölz. Ushi Disl has been involved in sports since childhood. She started skiing at the age of 11 under the influence of her father. He supported his daughter in every possible way. He himself was also a member of the local ski club and, noticing the success of Ursula, offered to try his hand at biathlon. A 16-year-old girl enjoyed the combination of cross-country skiing and target shooting.

Already two years later she achieved her first victories at the junior level (European Cup (1989), Alps Cup (1990)). The second place in the German championship confirmed her inclusion in the national team. The following season, she already received her first award at the 1991 World Cup as part of the national team. What followed was 15 years of top-level performances.

After graduating from high school, she qualified to work as a bank clerk. Since 1990, it has been included in the national police. In 1995, she passed the qualification exam and received the officer rank of captain. After the end of her sports career, she devoted herself to family life. Has two children with Thomas Soderbergh.

Ursula tried herself as a sports expert and commentator on one of the German channels. After the end of the performances, he leads an active lifestyle: he rides bicycles, goes down in kayaks, plays billiards. Ursula had to faceexcessive manifestation of attention to his person on the part of her idols. Because of this, she repeatedly changed her place of residence. She has now settled in Sweden, where she focuses on family life.

Victory and disappointment

What is the main achievement of Ursula Disl? Ushi is the only athlete who managed to participate in five Olympiads, and on each of them to climb the podium (9 medals). During her career in world biathlon, she received more than 100 awards, more than half of them gold.

She has won prizes in all disciplines of the world biathlon (all individual races, team starts, relay races). Only Ole Bjoerndalen from the men's national team can boast of such an achievement. Ursula aspired to take first place at the end of the season at least once. She repeatedly led the overall standings, went to the start in the “yellow” jersey, but unstable shooting became an obstacle in the final standings.

Only once in the 1992/93 season did she miss the top ten. That year was difficult for her, and Ushi even thought about ending her career. Fourth place in the relay for the entire season could be her last achievement. But she pulled herself together and excelled in subsequent starts.

Honored with the Bavarian Order of Merit (state award). Together with other great and famous German athletes, she participated on one of the national channels in the television show "Eternal Hero".

Nickname "Turbo"

Knowing Ursula's tendency to lose focus on the shooting range, Russian fans have repeatedly (jokingly) expressed the opinion that she is the fifth member in their team. For misses, Usha often had to “wind up” pen alty loops, giving hope and a chance to other teams. But she compensated for this by sprinting along the distance. For this, her fans called her Turbo-Disl. Uschi Diesel, even having misses in shooting, always tried to show the maximum result.

However, this was not a blind pursuit of the goal. According to the coaches, she understood that she could jeopardize the overall team result. At the last Olympics, she even gave way to the young, refusing to participate in the relay, realizing that she could not guarantee stable shooting.

Departure from big biathlon

Why did Ursula Disl end her sports career? Ushi has repeatedly stated that she would like to leave with her head held high. Having set a record, taking a prize-winning place at the next (fifth in a row) Olympics, she considered that this was enough. Admitting that the reason was not so much her age (at that time she was 35 years old), she said that she felt that she had ceased to receive returns from training, she lost motivation, she felt that she had exhausted herself in big sports.

Realizing that this might be her last good start, she announced her retirement. After the end of her career, she remained faithful to biathlon. I tried to follow everything that happened in sports circles, was an expert on the TV channel, commented on the stages of the championshipsworld, but realized that this was not her path. Another reason for leaving the sport was the desire to create a full-fledged family. She did not hide the fact that she had been dreaming of a child for a long time, and decided not to put it off.

Family

The year after the end of the performances, Uschi Diesel gave birth to her first child. Disl and Thomas Soderbergh welcomed a baby girl on January 15, 2007. They named her Hannah. Three years later, her brother Tobias, who was born on August 12, 2010, joined her.

Ursula's lover, Thomas Soderbergh, at the time of the meeting was a serviceman in the national biathlon team of Norway. The couple is doing well. Ursula is grateful to Thomas for his patience and universal support at all stages of their relationship. Ushi Disl called the birth of her daughter and son her most serious competition. But she did it, the children are he althy, they grow up in a caring family - and this is the most important thing.

Symbol of women's German biathlon

For her outstanding achievements, she has taken pride of place in sports history. Her personal qualities: femininity, charm, naturalness - helped her become a symbol and "locomotive" of the team. Biathlete Uschi Disl has always stood for the promotion of a he althy lifestyle in Germany. And many great athletes were ready to “take off their hats to her” for this.

Ordinary people even after the end of performances came just to see her, talk, praise. This is also a kind of test. But Uschi Diesel strives to see the best in everything and look for the positive. Now she devoted her life entirely to her family. She is happy thatsees her children grow up. And you can always find interesting activities around. Sports life is vibrant and watching it, the achievements of the national team and its current leaders is also a pleasure.