She stood on the podium at the medal ceremony. Daniela Maier was awarded bronze at the Olympic Games in Beijing. The ski crosser then took the precious metal home with her. It is there to this day. “I like looking at the medal. That was the best ski cross I’ve ever shown that day,” the 26-year-old recalled on Wednesday when the German Ski Association (DSV) was dressed in Herzogenaurach.
However, it is not certain whether the freestyler will be able to keep the reward for the competition of her life forever. Maier has to worry about her medal, although the competition was eight months ago.
Your case is still with the International Court of Arbitration for Sport Cas in Lausanne, Switzerland. “At the moment we are assuming that the medal will stay with Dani,” said Heli Herdt, DSV’s sports director for ski cross.
Maier had won bronze at the past Winter Games, although she was narrowly beaten in fourth place. The third-placed Swiss Fanny Smith illegally obstructed the German on the home stretch with her left ski, the jury judged and changed the finish line.
After the subsequent appeal by Smith and the Swiss Ski Association, the Appeal Committee of the World Association Fis decided to overturn the jury’s evaluation. The justification stated that the contact was “neither intentional nor avoidable”. A warning would have been enough. This emerged from four meetings of the appeals committee, including hours of video study.
Curious: On the Fis side, Maier is still listed as fourth, on the Olympic side, on the other hand, she is third.
Losing third place does not automatically mean losing the Olympic medal. A possible scenario would be that another bronze medal is awarded. “I wish there would be something official at some point,” said Maier, who tried to finish the topic as best she could in the summer. “I had to make this cut for myself in order to be able to start the new season stronger.” The ski crossers open their World Cup season in France at the beginning of December.