Frank Luck (born 5 December 1967) is a former German and, before 1990,
East German
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 ...
biathlete
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and shooting sports, rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into sh ...
.
Career
Luck started early with
cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...
, but in 1980 he went over to biathlon. By 1988 at the age of 21 he had already qualified for the
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were h ...
in
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 ...
, where he finished sixth in the sprint event. His big breakthrough came with the 10 km sprint
world title in 1989. Having originally competed for the East German team, by 1991,
Germany had unified and Luck was now competing for the combined Germany team. Because of illness he missed 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 ...
in
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 ...
, but 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 ...
in
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 ...
he won the gold medal with the German relay team which he repeated four years later at the
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially known as the and commonly known as Nagano 1998 ( ja, 長野1998), was a winter multi-sport event held from 7 to 22 February 1998, mainly in Nagano, Japan, with some events taking place in the ...
in
Nagano Nagano may refer to:
Places
* Nagano Prefecture, a prefecture in Japan
** Nagano (city), the capital city of the same prefecture
*** Nagano 1998, the 1998 Winter Olympics
*** Nagano Olympic Stadium, a baseball stadium in Nagano
*** Nagano Universi ...
. During his seventeen-year career, Luck won eleven world championship gold medal with the last one in the relay in 2004 at
Oberhof where he retired as a biathlete after this event. With five silver and three bronze medals he is one of the most successful world championship competitors of all time.
Luck also won three times at the
Holmenkollen ski festival
The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( no, Holmenkollen skifestival or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic.
History
It takes place in March ...
biathlon competition with two wins in the pursuit (1999, 2000) and one win in the sprint (2002).
He is the
Brother-in-law
A sibling-in-law is the spouse of one's sibling, or the sibling of one's spouse, or the person who is married to the sibling of one's spouse.Cambridge Dictionaries Online.Family: non-blood relations.
More commonly, a sibling-in-law is referred ...
to his one-time teammate
Sven Fischer
Sven Fischer (born 16 April 1971) is a former German biathlete. He trained with the WSV Oberhof 05 club, and was coached by Frank Ullrich and Fritz Fischer (national coaches) and Klaus Siebert (club coach). After the 2006/07 biathlon season, he ...
.
Doping
In April 2009, Luck, on the German TV show ''Sport Inside'' (
WDR), acknowledged having unwittingly been given the anabolic steroid
Oral Turinabol
Chlorodehydromethyltestosterone (CDMT; brand name Oral Turinabol), also known as 4-chloro-17β-hydroxy17α-methylandrosta-1,4-dien-3-one, is an anabolic–androgenic steroid (AAS). It is the 4-chloro-substituted derivative of metandienone (dehyd ...
by his trainer in the 1980s.
Biathlon: Ex-Biathlet Frank Luck entlastet Ullrich
focus.de, 7 April 2009
Biathlon results
All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union
The International Biathlon Union (IBU; german: Internationale Biathlon-Union) is the international governing body of biathlon. Its headquarters were in Salzburg, Austria, until May 2020, when the Federation moved to Anif, on the outskirts of the ...
.
Olympic Games
''5 medals (2 gold, 3 silver)''
:''*Pursuit was added as an event in 2002.''
World Championships
''20 medals (11 gold, 5 silver, 4 bronze)''
:''*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.''
:''**Team was removed as an event in 1998, and pursuit was added in 1997 with mass start being added in 1999.''
Individual victories
''12 victories (1 In, 9 Sp, 2 Pu)''
:''*Results are from UIPMB and IBU races which include the Biathlon World Cup
The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 Biathlon World Cup, 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 Biathlon World Cup, 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons ...
, Biathlon World Championships
The first Biathlon World Championships (BWCH) was held in 1958, with individual and team contests for men. The number of events has grown significantly over the years. Beginning in 1984, women biathletes had their own World Championships, and fina ...
and the Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'hiver) is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were he ...
.''
References
External links
Official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luck, Frank
1967 births
Living people
People from Schmalkalden
Sportspeople from Thuringia
National People's Army military athletes
German male biathletes
Biathletes at the 1988 Winter Olympics
Biathletes at the 1994 Winter Olympics
Biathletes at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Biathletes at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Olympic biathletes of East Germany
Olympic biathletes of Germany
Medalists at the 1994 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 1998 Winter Olympics
Medalists at the 2002 Winter Olympics
Olympic medalists in biathlon
Olympic silver medalists for Germany
Olympic gold medalists for Germany
Biathlon World Championships medalists
Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners
Doping cases in biathlon
German sportspeople in doping cases