FC Bayern employee Georg Emmerdinger will return to Munich from the Special Olympics World Winter Games in Turin with three medals – one gold and two bronze. The 40-year-old, who is part of FC Bayern's facility management team, celebrated the greatest success of his already extremely successful sporting career in snowshoeing. “That's the Bayern winning gene,” he told fcbayern.com, “I've taken that with me from Säbener Straße to Turin.”
With a time of one minute and 39 hundredths of a second, Emmerdinger - affectionately called ‘Schorschi’ by everyone at Säbener Straße - won gold in the 200 metres on Thursday. This was followed on Friday by bronze in the 100 metres (24.26 seconds) and then another bronze with the German 4x100-metre mixed relay team. “We at FC Bayern are delighted with Georg ‘Schorschi’ Emmerdinger's success at the Special Olympics in Turin. He is a credit to our club,” said FCB president Herbert Hainer. “The athletes give courage to all people with disabilities that they can overcome any challenge.”
For Emmerdinger, taking part in the Special Olympics was yet another highlight of his long career. He won his first medal at the age of 16 and countless titles have since followed. In total, ‘Schorschi’ has won around 40 gold medals in five disciplines to date - in addition to snowshoeing, alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, swimming and cycling - making him one of the most decorated disabled athletes in Germany.
“Everyone is part of our society”
The Special Olympics Winter Games in Turin, which end this Saturday, are the largest inclusive sporting event for people with intellectual disabilities this year. Emmerdinger is one of 53 German athletes taking part. In total, over 1,500 athletes from 102 countries are taking part.
Together with its partner Deutsche Telekom, FC Bayern invited the German team to the home match against Holstein Kiel at the Allianz Arena in February and bid them farewell for the competition in Turin. Thomas Müller personally conveyed his best wishes. “FC Bayern has been very committed to inclusion for many years,” said Hainer. Among other things, the club has set standards with its Red against Racism initiative and, for example, developed signs for the players together with the Red Deaf fan club, which are shown on the scoreboards inside the Allianz Arena when the team line-up is read out. Hainer said: “The message of our club is that everyone is part of our society, and together we can rise above ourselves.”
