Georg Hackl

Hackl was raised in Berchtesgarden, Germany, a haven for winter sports in the Bavarian Alps. He tried luge for the first time in grammar school; he was neither a natural athlete nor an immediate success. He was, however, mechanically adept. Hackl loved to design and build lightweight luge sleds and was constantly tweaking them to increase their speed. At age sixteen, he became an apprentice to a metal worker so he could make

Georg Hackl

better sleds. USA Today recounted the story of Hackl setting a track record in his opening run of the 2001 World Cup season in Calgary, then quickly stuffing his sled into a bag. "The move was typical for the luge legend, who guards his equipment innovations like a chef's secret sauce," the paper said. Hackl elevated the stakes in his quest for a fifth Olympic medal. Before the 2002 games, he enlisted engineers at Porsche to help him create a faster sled. "To be part of developing a sport is something that is very satisfying. If you took a sled from 10 years ago, it would be more than half a second slower," Hackl, a beer-loving sergeant in the German Army, told the New York Times. "I was the best, and then the others tried to beat me. They succeeded. Then I try to beat them. This pushes the process, and that is what has kept my interest for 20 years. I design my sleds. I design the start technique, the driving, the aerodynamic position and the equipment."

The other critical factor in Hackl's winning repertoire is his fearless nature. Lugers hurtle down the side of a mountain, unprotected, at astonishing speeds—but they must remain relaxed to minimize unnecessary movements that can be the difference between winning and losing. This is where Hackl excels. "The object is to steer while moving as little as possible because even the smallest of motions is transferred immediately to the runners, throwing a sled off-line. In a sport timed in thousandths of a second, any error is lethal to success," Layden wrote in Sports Illustrated. "Hackl rides as still as a corpse, his movements are more subtle than a whisper, his driving line a work of art. His skill and focus are no less impressive than that of the quarterback who doesn't hear the crowd."