In 2014 Burgenland celebrated Julia Dujmovits’ gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, two years later Tanja Frank and Thomas Zajac won bronze medals and thus ensured the only red-white-red podium at the summer games in Rio. This year, Burgenland’s athletes are traveling home from Tokyo without precious metals. At the same time as the Olympic Games, a new company, Sport Burgenland GmbH, was set up in Burgenland, which is supposed to structure sport in the state even better. State sports centers are to be created, popular sports are to be promoted even more and, as a result, the density at the top is to be increased. Burgenland should become a hub for national and international sport, says Sports Councilor Heinrich Dorner – the company has now positioned itself accordingly. With Toni Beretzki as managing director. On the one hand, he is from Burgenland and can fully identify with the task; on the other hand, the 51-year-old has decades of experience in top-class sport – in football with Red Bull Salzburg, Rapid, Spartak Moscow or in skiing with the ÖSV and the US ski team .
The Güssinger knows how to be successful at the top. And the sports scientist now also wants to implement the recipe in his home state. The plan for this is in place, work is underway to implement it. If the Sport Burgenland GmbH project succeeds as one imagines, then it is quite possible to cheer for red and gold medal winners again at the upcoming major events.
Katharina Liensberger from Vorarlberg, who is coached by Toni Beretzki in the field of athletics, can confirm this – she won two gold medals at the Alpine World Championships last winter. Of course, it remains to be seen whether the Burgenland sports recipe will ultimately turn into a success story. At first glance, however, the ingredients for it seem to be quite right.
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