On Day of the Hackl, the Shoe Fits

Those super yellow booties? Forget it.

“The secret this week was to drive well, lie flat and have a fast sled,” Georg Hackl said. “A fast sled and secret wax.”

He said it with a laugh, and who could blame him?

He had just completed another dominating performance Monday, winning the Olympic luge title to become only the sixth athlete to win the same title in three consecutive Winter Games.

“An awesome feeling,” he said of that accomplishment, having pumped his fist as he saw the clock after passing the finish line in the fourth and final heat.

The 31-year-old German had the fastest time in each of those heats, smoking his rivals and overcoming the U.S. and Canadian contention that his booties were illegal.

Maybe those protesting countries should have been searching for the . . . secret wax?

If people were going to complain about his booties, the fun-loving and stein-lifting Hackl (who probably had less trouble winning than finding a beer garden here in which to celebrate) could do a little leg pulling of his own. Surely he was playing his mind games, jesting about the wax. Surely he doesn’t need a foreign substance to assist his acceleration.

“Sometimes we think he has something on his sled,” longtime Austrian rival Markus Prock said, seemingly smiling as he said it. “He’s not very fast at the start, but he gets faster and faster [as he covers the course].”

Prock finished second to Hackl in each of the last two Olympics, but was fourth this time. Italy’s Armin Zoeggeler was second, .503 of a second behind Hackl, and Germany’s Jens Mueller was third while also wearing those new booties.

Athletes from Germany, Italy, Austria and the former Soviet Union have now won all 84 Olympic luge medals.

Veteran Wendel Suckow, the leading U.S. hope, finished sixth in his final race.

“You’re always looking to win a medal when you come to the Olympics, but you can’t sit there and whine when you don’t,” Suckow said.

“You have to pick up your chin and go congratulate the winner.”

Suckow did just that, calling Hackl one of his closest friends on the luge circuit and clearly one of the greatest sledders ever.

Of his own career, Suckow said he had no regrets, that no one can take away his 1993 world championship (when he came from behind to beat Hackl).

“I’m 100% pleased,” he said of his final performance. “You can stay up all night wondering and second guessing, but I feel I gave 110% and can walk away satisfied.

“I’ll always miss the competition, but I hope to remain involved [probably as a coach] and maybe help our young guys get that medal.”

Promising U.S. sledder Adam Heidt finished ninth, and teammate Larry Dolan was 15th.

Hackl has talked about retiring, but will probably continue racing through the next world championship, to be held on his home track in Konigssee, Germany.

He said his 1994 victory at Lilliehammer represented his greatest Olympic moment because he had to come from behind in the final heat to beat Prock.

A final few words on those booties. Part of the protest, disallowed by the rules jury, was based on the U.S. contention that they couldn’t get the same boots from Adidas, violating the international rule requiring that all competitors have access to the same equipment.

Austrian Coach Karl Rief scoffed at that.

“You can call two days before the Olympics and get those shoes,” he said. “We heard about them in October and got the same shoes as the Germans.

“Hackl, he can win with these shoes,” Rief said, raising his right foot and pointing at his snow boots.

Or as U.S. official Sandy Caligiore conceded: “He could win in flip-flops.”

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Medalists

Luge

Men’s Singles

Gold: Georg Hackl, Germany

Silver: Armin Zoeggler, Italy

Bronze: Jens Mueller, Germany