Innsbruck '64: Double Silver, Double Happiness
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Innsbruck ’64: double silver, double happiness By Volker Kluge The American cocktail parties of the prohibition era fell out of fashion for quite a long period until the retro wave of the 1990s breathed new life into them. At one of these informal receptions a few years ago, the former American figure skater Vivian Joseph was introduced as the ‘Olympic pairs bronze medallist from Innsbruck 1964’. A week later one of the guests got in touch and The victory ceremony disputed her success. According to his information the in Innsbruck in the then 19-year-old with her brother and skating partner 1964 pairs figure Ronald had only achieved fourth place, and he cited the skating event: gold IOC website and other sources. “I wasn’t very happy,” for Belousova/ Vivian Joseph was quoted in the New York Times.1 Her Protopopov, silver annoyance was understandable, after all the bronze for Kilius/ Bäumler, medal is nowhere else but in her ownership. bronze for the Fifty years after Innsbruck it is time to shed some Canadians Wilkes/ light on one of the most confusing Olympic stories. The Revell. starting point is the 29 January 1964 when, in the Olympic Stadium in front of more than ten thousand specta- Photos: Volker Kluge Archive tors, the first medals of the Games were awarded. In the opinion of the masses who had made themselves com- However, the disappointed spectators, many of whom fortable in front of their televisions, there was no doubt had come from nearby Bavaria over the border, regarded about the “golden” achievement of the German “dream the Innsbruck judges as the only people to blame since couple” Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler. they had by a majority of 5:4 put the Russians in first Yet that Wednesday evening did not end with the ex- place. The wicked witch for them was judge number 4, pected victory which was supposed to crown their career the Canadian Dr. Suzanne Francis Morrow4, who had and smooth the way to a richly-rewarded professional given the Germans only a 5.4 for artistic presentation, career. Instead, the married Leningrad couple Lyudmila while she had marked her compatriots Debbie Wilkes Belousova and Oleg Protopopov, who were trained in and Guy Revell a tenth of a mark higher. But it was over- classical ballet and had interpreted, with much feeling looked that the vet from Toronto had marked lower and effort, Tchaikovski’s “Swan Lake” – demonstrating than her colleagues during the entire competition and perfect lifts, leaps, combinations of steps and an un- continued to do so right to the end. If any non-sporting surpassed artistic death spiral as the pièce de résistance. reason could be adduced, it was Bäumler’s bad luck in In contrast, the Germans looked weak and lacking in having drawn the starting number 2. rhythm in comparison to their previous appearances. The furious German TV audience, millions strong, was The loss of form had already been noticed at the German deaf to such arguments that evening. In the hall apples, championships in Oberstdorf, but had been concealed by oranges and drinks cans were thrown in protest on to unjustifiably high marks from the judges, which sections the ice. During the clear-up even a wooden leg was of the well-informed public had met with cries of “Pfui” found which nobody had collected. (Boo!) and “Schiebung” (foul play).2 From column- Beside Francis Morrow the anger was directed length newspaper reports it could be deduced that the es pecially at the Austrian referee Dr. Ernst Labin, who puzzling drop in performance of the celebrated couple r eceived 40 telegrams of protest, whose senders were had their its origin outside the ice rink and were con- mostly from the neighbouring country and of which nected to a rich admirer who was said to have proposed one demanded a pistol “so that I can quickly shoot the to Marika Kilius. “A dark shadow hovers over our world Canadian“.5 Hundreds, if not thousands, of defamatory champion couple”, ran the rumour in Bild-Zeitung.3 letters arrived in editorial offices. 52 Besides Belousova/Protopopow there was another big they started a sit-spin, which resulted in elimination winner that evening – the postcard sellers outside the when a piece of iron broke off Kilius’s skate and no re- hall who offered picture postcards with the Austrian placement could be found quickly. The debacle did have ice-skating stamp and pictures of the German couple an up side. The Prague fall had made the pair instantly with the title “World champions and Olympic victors”, famous, so that their popularity could only be topped printed before the event, and now the hottest sellers. by the 1963 world championship title. After five victories The Bertelsmann Olympic book also stated: “...out of at the European Championships the longed-for result the souvenir was made a curiosity, a macabre rarity at was attained in Cortina d’Ampezzo – in the open and at the cost of two young people ...”6 minus 18 degrees. The spectators – almost all Germans – celebrated the success until 3 o’clock in the morning. The Prague fall made the couple instantly famous The “sad fairytale prince” and the “ice-cold beast” Even before their painful defeat it was clear to Marika Kilius and Hans-Jürgen Bäumler that after Innsbruck, After the 1964 Winter Games Kilius/Bäumler lost the urge and certainly after the approaching Dortmund World to defend their world championship title and risk an- Championships in March, they would end their amateur other failure, which would only damage their market career. If they were not travelling, they were on the ice for value. The doubts were fostered by a telegram directed four hours of daily training – mostly in Garmisch-Parten- to Kilius’s mother by the fortune-teller Buchela, who kirchen. Besides that, the delicate-looking Hans-Jürgen enjoyed a dubious fame as the “Bonn Seer“8 and who Bäumler had increasing difficulty in lifting Marika Kilius, now prophesied the the pair would never win against who now weighed 55 kg. And just their five-minute free- the Russians.9 skating exercise already contained 16 lifts. Furthermore, this daughter of a Frankfurt hairdresser had been in competition for ten years. As early as 1955 the then eleven-year-old had taken part in the European Championships in Budapest and with her then partner Franz Ningel won the bronze medal. At the 1956 Olympic Winter Games in Cortina d’Ampezzo the two managed a respectable fourth place, but already it was clear that the unequal pairing – Kilius was eight centimetres taller than Ningel – would not face a great future. After the 1958 World Championships in roller figure skating, won by Kilius/Ningel, coach Erich Zeller placed the young blonde with Hans-Jürgen Bäumler – the 14 months her senior and at that time the best individual skater. After only six weeks of training together they be- came German champions, accompanied day in, day out by their mothers, who had long felt themselves to be experts and gave Zeller training hints until it became too In any case, they had to think of the future which, for Judge No. 4, Canada’s much for him and he sent them to the cafeteria.7 Marika Kilius who had the chance of a farewell tour of Suzanne Francis The next year, 1959, Kilius/Bäumler became World six months at most, looked different than for her skater Morrow (seated far Championship runners-up in Colorado Springs behind prince. Also, to the displeasure of the fans, her plans to left in the photo) the Canadians Barbara Wagner and Robert Paul. The marry the junior boss of the Frankfurt cigarette lighter was considered the same happened at the 1960 Winter Games in Squaw factory “Ibelo”, Werner Zahn, looked more certain while “wicked fairy” Valley. As was then customary, the Olympic champions Bäumler, the son of a civil servant (who, as an amateur, because she had promptly retired. They went on tour with the show troop was officially allowed to accept gifts of a value of just preferred her compa- of the “Ice Capades”, until their fame had faded by 1964. 200 Swiss francs) continued to hope for a lucrative revue triots to the Germans Although the path was thus cleared for the Germans, contract – which he could only get with his partner. and placed Kilius/ they had to wait for their really big success. The 1961 Without her he was only worth half. Bäumler in third place. World Championships, which were intended to be in In the end it was the actor Thomas Fritsch, a friend of Prague, were cancelled by the International Skating Kilius, who argued the most convincingly in favour of the Union (ISU), after a “Sabena” aircraft carrying the 17 World Championship, emphasising that the pair would members of the USA figure-skating team crashed on have a home advantage with Dortmund as the venue. the approach to Brussels. At the Prague title champion- And Werner Zahn, who had no objection to a short revue ships of 1962 the pair clashed their skates together as tour for his fiancée, thought as a businessman: “If you JOH 1 | 2014 Innsbruck ’64: double silver, double happiness 53 Afterwards the stop as world champions, your fee in the ice revue will German pair did not be certainly higher.“10 But how they were to get past feel like giving more Belousova/ Protopopov even he was unable to say. than a tortured smile. It was Marika Kilius who found a solution. She sug- That even before the gested to Bäumler and Zeller that they should present an competition picture entirely new routine.