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Said goodbye in 2022: tennis player Roger Federer.
When he appears somewhere, everyone fades next to him: Roger Federer (41). The most recent example: When the 20-time Grand Slam champion walked in as a surprise guest at the Sports Awards in mid-December, the assembled Swiss sports celebrities queued up. Virtually everyone wanted a selfie with the athlete of the century, who, apart from his farewell appearance at the Laver Cup, didn’t hit a single competitive ball this year.
A thousand and one tears: It gets under your skin – Nadal cries with Federer(01:10)
The same applies if the tennis maestro gives his resignation. Then the tears flow not only from him and his buddy Rafa Nadal, but also from the assembled sports nation – oh what, the entire sports world cried when Federer finally said goodbye to sports retirement. The picture by photographer Ella Ling is already iconic: it shows Federer and Nadal holding hands in tears. Even with his departure, the maestro is in a league of his own.
This picture of Federer and Nadal (right) went around the world.
In contrast, everyone else who said goodbye to top-class sport in 2022 is having a hard time. Although there are a number of names that would have easily taken the limelight themselves in any other year. Dario Cologna (36) for example. The cross-country skier of the century, one of the greatest in history with four Olympic gold medals, retired last spring. With four overall World Cup victories, four Tour de Ski triumphs and three World Championship medals, the 15-time World Cup winner leaves a huge gap.
Fortunately, Cologna only went as an athlete
Luckily, Cologna said goodbye to Nordic skiing only as an athlete. As a TV commentator, he remains with the fans. “For me personally, it’s a nice way to stay connected to my passion,” he said to Blick in December. Federer has thought about something similar for his retirement. A good idea, Mr. Cologna? ‘It would be similar with Roger. That’s why I can only recommend it to him.”
Or there is ski star Carlo Janka (36). The Bündner Iceman became Olympic champion, world champion, overall World Cup winner, he won eleven World Cup races. His body has thwarted his plans in recent years, at the Lauberhorn races in January Ellie and Lio’s dad said goodbye to racing shortly before the Olympic Games.
Speaking of dad: FCB star Valentin Stocker (33) made headlines again shortly before his retirement when he became the dad of twins – and in May gave up a European Cup away trip to Marseille to be with his newborn children and his partner .
After this season is over: This is how Stocker announces his resignation(00:35)
The Central Swiss won six championship titles and four cups with FCB, he played 36 times for the Swiss national team, except for his detour to Hertha BSC from 2014 to 2018 (68 Bundesliga games), he always remained loyal to the Basel team and became one of the crowd’s favorites early on in St. Jakob Park.
From Sprig to Galmarini to Forrer
Martina Moser (36) is Valentin Stocker’s counterpart this year. The native of Bern is one of the pioneers in Swiss women’s football, with 129 international matches she was a record international for a long time. In 2007 she moved to the Bundesliga for SC Freiburg, later she played for Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim before returning to FC Zurich in Switzerland in 2017. She is still with the FCZ: she works there as a supervisor of the men’s team.
When Stocker wrote the headlines as a father, Nicola Spirig (40) did the same as a mother, squared. She proved to a whole generation of female athletes that family planning and top-class sport are not mutually exclusive. Spirig became Olympic triathlon champion in London in 2012, four years later in Rio there was silver. Two boys and a daughter were born during her career – an impressive achievement.
“The audience was great”: Farewell to the Spirig at the Greifensee Run(03:13)
Snowboarder Nevin Galmarini (36) has the same Olympic record as Spirig. The Engadine won gold and silver at the Olympic Games in the parallel giant. After his triumph in Pyeongchang in 2018, his back was causing more and more problems. And so the overall World Cup winner from 2018 finally had to give up after the 2021/22 season. With him, the sport loses an athlete who had always looked beyond his own nose during his career.
Wrestling king Nöldi Forrer (44) held out for a long time. The Toggenburger won 151 wreaths in his career, in addition to his king’s title in 2001 in Nyon, he won another 45 times at wreath festivals, and he won the federal wreath 6 times. After he had cracked the 150 mark, it was over for Forrer.
Kugelblitz Feuz drives his last race on January 21st
In biathlon there were two prominent resignations last year: Olympic silver medalist Selina Gasparin (38) said goodbye to the World Cup, as did Benjamin Weger (33). In athletics, two women, Selina Rutz-Büchel (31) and Noemi Zbären (28), stopped. And in the ring, too, someone threw in the towel: boxer Alain Chervet (32) competed in Bern for the last time a few days ago. He retired from boxing on December 26 with a knockout in round 1. On the same day that Beat Feuz (35) gave a press conference in Bormio in which he explained his reasons for resigning. However, the ball lightning will stay with us for a few weeks: Feuz drives his last race on January 21st in Kitzbühel.
Shortly before the end of the year, swimming star Maria Ugolkova (33) announced that she was drawing a line under her career. (red)