Aline Rotter-Focken now understands normal people.

Three months after her Olympic wrestling victory in Tokyo.

For 26 years she tried to become the best version of herself, trained and optimized every day.

And now she has an idea why it is sometimes difficult to motivate yourself to exercise.

Now that she no longer has to.

Stefanie Sippel

Sports editor.

  • Follow I follow

The fog hangs in the treetops of the Black Forest. It smells like wet leaves. Aline Rotter-Focken walks up a serpentine path. The Triberg waterfall babbles in the background. A suitable place to think about what she actually wants from life now. What happens as an athlete after you have said the sentence: "I will stop."?

Rotter-Focken has just come back from work. She wears walking shoes and a light gray dress. She has to go back later. In between to the hardware store, a few phone calls. Renovating again tonight. She is currently expanding the apartment in Triberg with her husband. She didn't really have time to think about it yet. In any case, she is here now. From the jet set sports life to the Black Forest. "Yes, I had to get used to it first, as I actually come from the Rhineland," says Rotter-Focken. No restaurants open after 10 p.m., but shop displays with cuckoo clocks. And the regional train isn't running right now.

She doesn't quite know what it all means now, she says.

Rotter-Focken is 30 years old and has achieved what she always wanted to achieve: an Olympic medal in wrestling.

She is undergoing a transformation - from champion to, yes, what actually?

She has not yet fully realized that she is no longer a competitive athlete.

The first day without training, weird.

But because of the appearances, receptions, interviews, she didn't really notice it.

The Olympic frenzy still has an effect on her.

But she wouldn't be Aline Rotter-Focken if she didn't already have a rough idea of ​​what's coming next. As an athlete, she had to plan again and again: the next European Championship, the next World Cup, the Olympics. How do I reach the zenith at time X? She thought about the time after the climax: She will take a job at the Ringer Bund, she is currently working as a health manager in a company in Triberg. She is renovating the house with her husband, wrestler Jan Rotter. And she's pregnant.

The last one, however, went faster than she had thought.

For her, it also shows that she was always pretty good with her body.

In her life as a competitive athlete, she has taken care of her body every day.

After the training still to the physio.

Good food, enough sleep - all geared towards the greatest possible performance in sport.

“As an athlete, you also have to be an egoist,” says Rotter-Focken.

That will soon change when she has to look after her child.

She wonders: How is it going to be?

Rotter-Focken doesn't work at all, as one might imagine a typical egoist.

She doesn't just talk about herself. She's more likely to be a good listener, making sure that the other person feels comfortable.

She is not a person who has to tell everyone about her victory.

Once, says Rotter-Focken, she went to the waterfalls with her husband and friends.

Those who live in Triberg can look at them for free.

She had forgotten her ID.

"No, you are not from Triberg," said the woman in the ticket booth.

At the entrance there was a poster from Rotter-Focken after her Olympic victory.

"Yes, I am," she said to the woman.

"Really?" She asked and let her in.

Rotter-Focken says: "I'm totally uncomfortable with something like that."