Things have quietened down again in the Upper Swabian town of Bad Saulgau. You can tell by the fact that Daniel Unger has been sitting in the "Kostbar" - his favourite café right on the picturesque market square - for more than half an hour and not one passer-by has asked for a car gram. Not really a good sign for a world champion when he is so little in demand, but Unger, when asked about it, immediately smells a rat, grins broadly and counters in Swabian: "They're all in for it."
Unger has once again come up with a real Unger. It was probably the pure truth to boot. You really can't imagine that there's another person from Mengen or Bad Saulgau who hasn't immortalised Unger's signature somewhere. Two entire villages - he grew up in Mengen and lives in Bad Saulgau - had mobilised after Unger had overtaken the Spaniard Javier Gomez in an insane final sprint in Hamburg on the first Sunday in September to become triathlon world champion - the first German ever to do so. When Unger returned home a day later, Mengen and Bad Saulgau were plastered with congratulatory posters, there was a real motorcade, the local brass band played, and they had set up a small stage in front of the church so that everyone could see their Daniel. Their world champion!
"Everyone knows everyone here," says the 29-year-old, and he also says that he somehow needs it: this homely, cosy atmosphere, the warmth of home. During the week, Unger has been training at the Olympic training centre in Saarbrücken, a kind of headquarters for German short-distance triathletes, for a good year now. His life there consists of swimming, cycling and running, five days a week. "The training conditions in Saarbrücken are simply ideal," says Unger. Above all, he can concentrate on the essentials without being disturbed by anything, not even friends, acquaintances or relatives.
HOME FOR SOUL MASSAGE
But at the weekend, when there are no competitions, he needs to get out of this triathlon world, get away from it all and into real life. To his girlfriend, friends and parents. His father and mother live in Mengen, while Unger lives in neighbouring Bad Saulgau with his girlfriend Tina, a children's fashion designer with whom he has been together for 13 years. Together with Michael Traub, his friend and co-trainer, he opened a sports shop there six months ago, which also bears his name. "The family is my support, my island of calm," says Daniel Unger. "I need that for my head," he adds.
It is his grounding, the "common thread" that runs through his life and which Unger says he could not live without - at least not as well. "You have to know where you come from and where you're at home," says Unger. For him, who has jetted all over the world when it comes to triathlon, this isn't just a silly slogan for the media or sponsors, and it certainly doesn't come across as old-fashioned or even provincial. It is simply authentic and true. Perhaps you could describe it as Daniel Unger, the world champion, training his body at the Olympic training centre in Saarbrücken, but then having his soul massaged at home, in Upper Swabia, "the most beautiful state in the world", as Unger explains with a grin.
For an athlete, it is important that body and soul are in harmony, only then can they perform at their best and perhaps become world champions in the end. However, they also have to go through a process of maturity to get to this point. It also took Daniel Unger a while to sort things out the way they are now. And he also had to learn from his defeats in order to become a winner. Unger suffered his biggest defeat just over three years ago - against his own body. It went on strike just before the Olympic Games in Athens: the 29-year-old was incapacitated for a whole year by glandular fever. It was a bad year for Unger; triathletes are not used to being out of action. But what was even worse for him was that the virus shattered his big dream - the dream of the Olympics.
FAME AS A REWARD FOR THE EFFORT
Back then, Daniel Unger decided to pursue his dream, so the illness became an opportunity. "It made me more aware and more sensitive," says Unger today. Since then, altitude training camps have been taboo; instead, he works with a nutrition expert. And in the summer of 2006, he rented a room at the Olympic training centre in Saarbrücken again - because he wanted to concentrate on the essentials. Daniel Unger knows today that he did everything right. After all, he is world champion. The fact that he has become the centre of public attention, at least temporarily, doesn't bother him. On the contrary, he enjoys it. "I think it's cool at the moment," says Unger, who sees the attention as a reward for his efforts. "As an athlete, you've always worked towards something like this," he reveals.
Daniel Unger is already looking forward to the first training camp. He recently met with Rolf Ebeling, the sports director of the German Triathlon Union, to talk about the coming year and how to approach it in principle. After all, the 29-year-old is starting the coming season as world champion. But he says he doesn't feel any pressure. "Nobody can take away what I have," says Unger. Only one or two things could still be added. After all, the Olympic Games will take place again next summer in Beijing. And they are still Daniel Unger's big dream.
