Alexander König (born 23 August 1966) is a German

figure skating Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

coach and former competitor. Competing in pairs with Peggy Schwarz, he became the 1988 European bronze medalist and placed seventh at three Winter Olympics. As a single skater, he is the 1982 World Junior bronze medalist.

Personal life

König was born on 23 August 1966 in

Eilenburg Eilenburg (; hsb, Jiłow) is a town in Germany. It lies in the district of Nordsachsen in Saxony, approximately 20 km northeast of the city of Leipzig. Geography Eilenburg lies at the banks of the river Mulde at the southwestern edge o ...

Bezirk Leipzig The Bezirk Leipzig was a district (''Bezirk'') of East Germany. The administrative seat and the main town was Leipzig. History The district was established, with the other 13, on 25 July 1952, substituting the old German states. After 3 October 1 ...

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

. In 1969, his family moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. From 1985 to 1988, he attended school to become a specialist in

gastronomy Gastronomy is the study of the relationship between food and culture, the art of preparing and serving rich or delicate and appetizing food, the cooking styles of particular regions, and the science of good eating. One who is well versed in gastr ...

. From 1994 to 1997, he studied sport at the Trainerakademie in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

Career

Competitive career

König began learning to skate in Berlin and would become a member of

SC Dynamo Berlin The Sports Club Dynamo Berlin was an East German sports club that existed from 1954 to 1991. It was the largest sports club of SV Dynamo, the sports association of the security agencies. The club was disbanded after German reunification and even ...

. Inge Wischnewski was one of his first coaches at the club. Competing as a single skater, he won bronze at the 1982 World Junior Championships, which took place in December 1981 in

Oberstdorf Oberstdorf ( Low Alemannic: ''Oberschdorf'') is a municipality and skiing and hiking town in Germany, located in the Allgäu region of the Bavarian Alps. It is the southernmost settlement in Germany and one of its highest towns. At the&nb ...

. In 1985, König switched to

pair skating Pair skating is a figure skating discipline defined by the International Skating Union (ISU) as "the skating of two persons in unison who perform their movements in such harmony with each other as to give the impression of genuine Pair Skating a ...

and teamed up with Peggy Schwarz. Their coach was Hedemarie Steiner-Walther. Schwarz/König won the bronze medal at the 1988 European Championships. They represented East Germany at the

1988 Winter Olympics The 1988 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XV Olympic Winter Games (french: XVes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Calgary 1988 ( bla, Mohkínsstsisi 1988; sto, Wîchîspa Oyade 1988 or ; cr, Otôskwanihk 1998/; srs, Guts� ...

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

, finishing seventh. In 1990, Schwarz/König changed coaches, deciding to join Knut Schubert. They placed seventh at the

1992 Winter Olympics ) , nations = 64 , athletes = 1,801 (1313 men, 488 women) , events = 57 in 6 sports (12 disciplines) , opening = 8 February 1992 , closing = 23 February 1992 , opened_by = President François Mitterrand , cauldron ...

Albertville Albertville (; Arpitan: ''Arbèrtvile'') is a subprefecture of the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. It is best known for hosting the 1992 Winter Olympics and Paralympics. In 2018, the commune had ...

and had the same result at the

1994 Winter Olympics The 1994 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XVII Olympic Winter Games ( no, De 17. olympiske vinterleker; nn, Dei 17. olympiske vinterleikane) and commonly known as Lillehammer '94, was an international winter multi-sport event held fro ...

Lillehammer Lillehammer () is a municipality in Innlandet county, Norway. It is located in the traditional district of Gudbrandsdal. The administrative centre of the municipality is the town of Lillehammer. Some of the more notable villages in the municip ...

. The pair parted ways in 1994 as Schwarz was pregnant. König decided to retire from competition that year.

Coaching career and other work

König is an A-licensed coach of the

Deutsche Eislauf-Union The German Ice Skating Union (german: Deutsche Eislauf-Union, DEU) is the national amateur association for figure skating and ice dancing in Germany. The various German ice sports associations constitute the membership of the DEU; individuals canno ...

. While studying, he worked as a coach in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

. Following his graduation, he took a coaching job in

Chemnitz Chemnitz (; from 1953 to 1990: Karl-Marx-Stadt , ) is the third-largest city in the German state of Saxony after Leipzig and Dresden. It is the 28th largest city of Germany as well as the fourth largest city in the area of former East Germany a ...

. From 2001 to 2008, König coached in

. He is also a figure skating judge and technical specialist. He coached in

from the summer of 2008 until 2018. In 2018, he returned to coach in Berlin. In October 2014, König joined the coaching team of

Aliona Savchenko Aljona Savchenko ( uk, Олена Валентинівна Савченко, ''Olena Valentynivna Savchenko''; German Romanization: ''Aljona Sawtschenko'', sometimes ''Aliona Savchenko''; born 19 January 1984) is a Ukrainian-born German pair ...

and

Bruno Massot Bruno Massot (born 28 January 1989) is a French-German pair skating coach and former competitor. Competing with Aljona Savchenko for Germany, he is the 2018 Olympic Champion, the 2018 World Champion, a two-time European silver medalist, and t ...

. The pair would win gold at the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

, 2018 World Championships, and

2017–18 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final The 2017–18 Grand Prix of Figure Skating Final and ISU Junior Grand Prix Final took place from 7 to 10 December 2017 at the Nagoya Civic General Gymnasium (Nippon Gaishi Hall) in Nagoya, Japan. Nagoya was announced as the host on 3 November 201 ...

. In the fall of 2022, he began coaching Georgian pair teams, Karina Safina / Luka Berulava and Anastasia Metelkina / Daniil Parkman. Since 1983, König has also had a career as a painter. He has had several exhibitions for his paintings.

Results

Men's singles

Pairs career with Schwarz

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Konig, Alexander 1966 births Living people People from Eilenburg People from Bezirk Leipzig German male pair skaters German male single skaters German figure skating coaches International Skating Union technical specialists Olympic figure skaters of East Germany Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1994 Winter Olympics Olympic figure skaters of Germany European Figure Skating Championships medalists World Junior Figure Skating Championships medalists Sportspeople from Saxony