On the day on which he no longer feels any luck, the wrestler Frank Stäbler runs through Hall A of the Makuhari Messe in Tokyo with three sweaters, a jacket and a woolen hat.

He lost to Iranian Mohammad Reza Geraei in the quarter-finals of the Olympic Games a few minutes ago.

He led, but then surrendered point by point.

At the end of the six minutes the score is 5: 5.

Christopher Meltzer

Sports correspondent in Munich.

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In wrestling this means: the fighter who has caught up will be rewarded.

And as a Stäbler, who at that moment can only think about the fact that he will never be able to call himself an Olympic champion in his life, and then as always on the scales, he also sees this figure: 68.2 kilograms - 1.2 too much .

Laughed and cried

On the day when he feels lucky, Stäbler stands topless in Hall A of the Makuhari Messe. He won a few minutes ago in the battle for bronze against Goergier Ramas Soidse. He led again, but then surrendered again point by point. In the end the score is 5: 4. He then dropped onto the mat in his red suit. He laughed and cried. And as a Stäbler, who at this moment can only think about the fact that he will be able to call himself an Olympic medalist forever in his life, then stands in front of the microphone in the interview zone, he says: “I mustn't think too hard about it, otherwise I have to cry again. "

Only one night has passed between the first and the second day, that of the great misfortune and that of the great fortune. In reality, however, he only had a few minutes in which he had to find something new in the Makuhari Messe, where he was in the middle of the last international competition of his life: hope.

So after the weigh-in he immediately put on the three sweaters, the sweat jacket and the hat and walked in circles for 20 minutes because the metabolism was still working after a fight.

He then sat on the ergometer for 45 minutes.

He had himself rubbed out in front of the exhibition hall in the heat of Tokyo.

Then he was on the scales again: 67.2 kilograms.

Only 0.2 too much.

He then let himself be driven to the hotel and lay in bed for twelve hours, even if he only slept three, at most four of them.

The next morning he put himself back on the scales: 67.0 kilograms.

Not a gram too much.

The perfect fighting weight.

He was now ready again: for the round of hope.

"That kept me alive"

On Wednesday evening, Frank Stäbler, 32 years old, spoke in detail and emotionally about this struggle with himself in the interview zone. “This is a completely insane system. I'm so glad I never have to do that shit again in my life. That kept me alive. I said to myself: the last time! The last time! The last time! "In this system, in which he has spent almost his entire life, he honestly found what he probably would not have found anywhere else:" A feeling that will hopefully fill me for the rest of my life. "

And if you heard this one sentence out of your mouth in this one place, then the final 24 hours were probably something of a completion for the great career of the great German wrestler Frank Stäbler. In them he not only got rid of the burden on his body, but also the burden in his head.