With the exception of Kiesenhofer, the Tokyo ÖOC medals were all won by military athletes.
In front of the Federal President (from 5.30 p.m.), Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner (ÖVP) also received the majority of the domestic Olympic medalists from Tokyo in Vienna on Tuesday. Six of the seven ÖOC medals in Tokyo were won by army athletes. Only cycling Olympic champion Anna Kiesenhofer, who caused the sensation of the games with gold in the road race, is not employed by the armed forces.
Army athlete
According to Tanner, 70 percent of the Austrian Olympic participants were soldiers. “And, as we have seen, these were very successful. These Olympic Games are once again proof that military sport works,” said the minister, who, among others, competed with bronze medal winners Lukas Weißhaidinger (discus), Magdalena Lobnig ( Rowing), Bettina Plank (karate) and Shamil Borchashvili (judo).
According to its own information, the armed forces currently support over 450 athletes in their ten military sports centers. At the Paralympics, which start on August 24th in Tokyo, more than half of the Austrian participants – namely 15 out of 24 – are military athletes, Tanner emphasized.
