Jens Weißflog

Jens Weißflog (Template:IPA; born 21 July 1964) is an East German and later German former ski jumper. He is one of the best and most successful ski jumpers in the history of the sport. He is a two time olympic and nordic world ski champion; also overall world winner.

Career

Weißflog was born in Erlabrunn (now a part of Breitenbrunn) in Saxony.

Olympics and Four Hills Tournament

As a 19-year-old he won the Four Hills Tournament for East Germany in 1983/84. Weißflog was known as "Floh" (flea in German) due to his slight stature and his light body. That same winter he won the combined World Cup and later the normal hill event at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo. The following winter was dominated by Weißflog and the outstanding Finn Matti Nykänen.

The most remarkable part of his career is that he competed at the top level for twelve years. Neither the regime change from East Germany to the unified Germany in late 1990, nor the change in ski jumping techniques from the parallel technique to the V-style around 1993 stopped his success.

In 1994 he won two gold medals in the individual large hill and team large hill events at the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, ten years after his first Olympic victory. Controversially, he committed one of the most unsporting acts in winter sports history, when he congratulated Japan's last team jumper with the victory, before the competition was over. The japanese failed miserably with his jump, while Weissflog did not, and thus Germany won the gold. In the next event, Weissflog was duly booed by approximately 40 000 spectators, who all regarded this former act as most unfair play, and a very dirty move. Weissflog responded by flipping the bird to the spectators, who did not warm further to him.

He finished his career in 1996 by becoming the first ski jumper to win the combined Four Hills Tournament four times. Only the Finn Janne Ahonen has surpassed that record by winning the Four Hills Tournament five times. He had also earned five-second-place finishes in the competition over the course of his career. After this achievement he retired from professional sport.

World Championships

At the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships, Weißflog won two golds in the individual normal hill (1985, 1989), three silvers in the individual large hill (1989) and team large hill (1984 and 1995), and four bronzes in the individual large hill (1991, 1993) and team large hill (1985 and 1991). He also won two medals at the FIS Ski Flying World Championships with a silver in 1985 and a bronze in 1990.

Weißflog also won the ski jumping competition at the Holmenkollen ski festival twice (1989, 1990). He was awarded the Holmenkollen medal in 1991 (shared with Vegard Ulvang, Trond Einar Elden, and Ernst Vettori).

Life after the career

Today, Jens Weißflog owns a hotel in his home town of Oberwiesenthal and is the main ski jump commentator for German television station ZDF.

World Cup

Standings

Season	Overall	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr	Template:Abbr
1980/81	—	110	N/A	N/A
1982/83	16	Template:Silver02	N/A	N/A
1983/84	Template:Gold01	Template:Gold01	N/A	N/A
1984/85	4	Template:Gold01	N/A	N/A
1985/86	16	22	N/A	N/A
1986/87	11	7	N/A	N/A
1987/88	6	Template:Silver02	N/A	N/A
1988/89	Template:Silver02	Template:Silver02	N/A	N/A
1989/90	6	Template:Bronze03	N/A	N/A
1990/91	8	Template:Gold01	19	N/A
1991/92	38	39	—	N/A
1992/93	11	Template:Bronze03	—	N/A
1993/94	Template:Silver02	Template:Silver02	—	N/A
1994/95	6	12	14	N/A
1995/96	4	Template:Gold01	8	4

Wins

No.	Season	Date	Location	Hill	Size
1	1982/83	6 January 1983	Template:Flagicon Bischofshofen	Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K109	LH
2	1983/84	1 January 1984	Template:Flagicon Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K107	LH
3		4 January 1984	Template:Flagicon Innsbruck	Bergiselschanze K106	LH
4		6 January 1984	Template:Flagicon Bischofshofen	Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K111	LH
5		11 January 1984	Template:Flagicon Cortina d’Ampezzo	Trampolino Italia K92	NH
6		15 January 1984	Template:Flagicon Liberec	Ještěd A K115	LH
7		12 February 1984	Template:Flagicon Sarajevo (OWG)	Igman K90	NH
8		24 March 1984	Template:Flagicon Planica	Srednja Bloudkova K90	NH
9	1984/85	1 January 1985	Template:Flagicon Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K107	LH
10		17 February 1985	Template:Flagicon Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120	LH
11	1986/87	6 December 1986	Template:Flagicon Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K89	NH
12	1987/88	24 January 1988	Template:Flagicon Engelberg	Gross-Titlis-Schanze K120	LH
13	1988/89	22 January 1989	Template:Flagicon Oberhof	Rennsteigschanze K90	NH
14		5 March 1989	Template:Flagicon Oslo	Holmenkollbakken K105	LH
15		8 March 1989	Template:Flagicon Örnsköldsvik	Paradiskullen K82	NH
16		25 March 1989	Template:Flagicon Planica	Srednja Bloudkova K90	NH
17		26 March 1989	Template:Flagicon Planica	Bloudkova velikanka K120	LH
18	1989/90	17 December 1989	Template:Flagicon Sapporo	Ōkurayama K115	LH
19		1 January 1990	Template:Flagicon Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K107	LH
20		17 January 1990	Template:Flagicon Zakopane	Wielka Krokiew K116	LH
21	1990/91	30 December 1990	Template:Flagicon Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze K115	LH
22		1 January 1991	Template:Flagicon Garmisch-Partenkirchen	Große Olympiaschanze K107	LH
23	1993/94	12 December 1993	Template:Flagicon Planica	Bloudkova velikanka K120	LH
24		14 December 1993	Template:Flagicon Predazzo	Trampolino dal Ben K90 (night)	NH
25		30 December 1993	Template:Flagicon Oberstdorf	Schattenbergschanze K115	LH
26		22 January 1994	Template:Flagicon Sapporo	Miyanomori K90	NH
27		23 January 1994	Template:Flagicon Sapporo	Ōkurayama K115	LH
28		5 March 1994	Template:Flagicon Lahti	Salpausselkä K90	NH
29		27 March 1994	Template:Flagicon Thunder Bay	Big Thunder K90	NH
30	1994/95	29 January 1995	Template:Flagicon Lahti	Salpausselkä K114	LH
31	1995/96	6 January 1996	Template:Flagicon Bischofshofen	Paul-Ausserleitner-Schanze K120	LH
32		20 January 1996	Template:Flagicon Sapporo	Miyanomori K90	NH
33		17 February 1996	Template:Flagicon Iron Mountain	Pine Mountain K120	LH

References

• Template:FIS ski jumper
• Holmenkollen medalists – click Holmenkollmedaljen for downloadable pdf file Template:In lang
• Holmenkollen winners since 1892 – click Vinnere for downloadable pdf file Template:In lang
• Official website Template:In lang
• SVZ (German TV) Profile Template:In lang
• [1] Template:In lang