This content was published on December 13, 2020 – 22:51
(Keystone-ATS)
Switzerland is a country of skiers, but the greatest sportsman in its history holds a racket in his hand. Roger Federer was logically crowned at the Sports Awards evening in Zurich.
The man with twenty Grand Slam titles shares the laurels with Vreni Schneider, who has been named the best Swiss sportswoman of the past seventy years. Like that of Roger Federer, the success of the Glaronnaise skier does not suffer any discussion.
Between 1987 and 1995, Vreni Schneider won three Olympic titles, three world titles and three times also the general classification of the World Cup. Between them, the Bâlois and the Glaronnaise total twelve distinctions for sportsman (ive) of the year, seven for the tennis player and five for the slalom.
The most beautiful gem
Considered the greatest player of all time in a universal sport, Roger Federer is the most beautiful jewel of Swiss sport. Even if Rafael Nadal also has twenty major titles, the Balois is the great maestro of tennis. The extraordinary fluidity of his game, his elegance, his longevity, his ability to invent moves from elsewhere and his resilience which has allowed him to win so many improbable victories have built his legend.
Since his winning comeback in 2017, each of his appearances on a court cultivates a messianic side that perhaps only Michael Jordan was able to meet in his time on the floors of the NBA. From Melbourne to New York via Paris and London, the Balois is carried by the fervor of an audience that is sometimes far too partisan. But we will not forget that Roger Federer strives, in the four corners of the world, to advance his “Swissness” to remind that he grew up in a country where life is good.
A great head start
In the absence of Martina Hingis among the nominees – the Saint-Galloise paid a high price for a moment of bewilderment one day in London which earned her a suspension for doping – Vreni Schneider had a good head start on Erika Hess and on Denise Biellmann, for whom the memories are perhaps more distant.
Like Roger Federer, the one we nicknamed “Gold Vreni” very quickly knew how to be loved by a whole country. Her crazy class stood out with her simplicity, symbolized by her love of knitting. Despite the successes, she has always known how to keep her feet on the ground as if to reassure a country which still aspires to a certain tranquility.
The unfortunate finalist of the Copenhagen World Championship, the 2018 national ice hockey team won the title of best team of all time. Victorious over Finland in the quarter-finals and Canada in the semi-finals, the selection of Patrick Fischer was to fall on the edge against Sweden for the gold. Led by a formidable Roman Josi, the Swiss were only to bow to the “shootout” lottery in this final which they could have, should (?), Won a thousand times.
Jean-Pierre Egger: the taste for discovery
Perhaps struck by the mere presence of Lise-Marie Morerod among the twelve nominated for individual merits, Romandie was nonetheless in the spotlight during this evening. Jean-Pierre Egger is, in fact, the best Swiss coach in history. A former Swiss record holder in the shot put and nine-time Swiss Champion from 1971 to 1980, the Neuchâtelois led Werner Günthör of course but also the New Zealander Valerie Adams to the heights of his favorite discipline.
But Jean-Pierre Egger was able, above all, to discover new horizons with Alinghi in sailing, the Grasshoppers and Olympique de Marseille in football, the French team in basketball, Simon Ammann in ski jumping and Matthias Sempach in freestyle wrestling. .
Most of the time, these experiences were successful, like the French basketball players’ conquest of money at the Sydney Games. The one who likes to repeat “to share the same dreams as his athletes” was – logically – preferred to the former coach of HC Davos Arno Del Curto and to the Austrian “wizard” Karl Frehsner who has long led Swiss skiers.
Finally, Heinz Frei has been named the greatest Paralympic athlete in history. Titled fifteen times at the Paralympic Games, the Bernese has asserted himself as an immense champion after being the victim in the summer of 1978 when he was 20 years old of a terrible accident during a race of Mountain
–
