Athlete profile: Dieter Happ

Posted: Tue February 3, 1998 at 5:00 PM ET

Athlete notes

Last year, Happ and his girlfriend Christina Rauter completed a double sweep of the ISF year-end giant slalom rankings...who would have expected otherwise, as the two are virtually inseparable -- living together and traveling with each other to ISF events...both will also be favorites leading up to the giant slalom Events in Nagano..."I decided early on last year that I wanted to go to the Olympics," says Happ, though he is an International Snowboarding Federation rider. "That means I had to start competing in some FIS events"...even though he competed in just a few select FIS World Cup events last winter he still cracked the top 20...more importantly last year, he kept his three-year strong hold on the top spot in the giant slalom rankings of the IFS, considered by most snowboarding experts to be the better tour..."I'm not happy with competing in the FIS events to qualify for the Olympics," says Happ of the ISF-FIS controversy regarding the Olympics. "I think we [ISF] have better riders. I don't think it's fair to only use the World Cups"...the Austrian ski federation has tried to make it as fair as possible, by using four World Cup events in December and January to select the four snowboarders from Austria who will travel to Japan...qualifying will be especially tough with the large number of talented and experienced snowboarders coming from the country known for its alpine athletes...Happ had to compete against the legendary Martin Freinademetz and the other "Dieter", Dieter Krassnig just to make the team...Happ started riding when he was 14 years old, for no particular reason other than to just try it...five years later he was competing..."When I started snowboarding I had so much fun that I wanted to convince everyone to try it out and get the same feeling. I could imagine lots of people starting to do it -- but never this many -- and I never though it would go to the Olympics"...now that snowboarding has hit the big stage of the Olympic Games, many nations and trainers will begin to look at reasons for a country's success and try to emulate them..."The level is really good concerning freeriding and alpine. Whether racing or freeriding, if we're out there together we always want to give our best and push each other," says Happ. "I think that is why we have such good snowboarders from Austria. We are all clustered around Innsbruck and we ski a lot together, so everyone can see how everyone else is skiing and we can learn"...unlike most world class athletes, Happ makes a point to hang up the board and not focus on snowboarding during the summer months..."I find my motivation to train and stay in shape by doing other sports," he explains...he says going windsurfing for a month each summer is a must, as is motocross...he even won a state-wide motocross race in Austria last year, though he does not quite achieve the same luster as Deion Sanders does for being a two-sport athlete..."It was the dream of my childhood having a bike. I'll always remember my first Enduro trip through the Pyrenees (Spain)"...Happ's father is retired and his mother is a housewife...he has and older sister and an older brother...he speaks English...