Andreas Kofler announces his retirement

After almost 20 years on the international Ski Jumping stage, Andreas Kofler has now announced the end of his long and successful career.

"I'm looking back on a great time, I made many friends in Ski Jumping and celebrated successes. I am very grateful that I could experience all that. Of course, my family, my friends, my management and my wife Mirjam, who always supported me, played a very important role during my career", says the 34-year-old, who was struggling with health problems recently.

"I want to thank everyone who was with me along the way. Many people left an impact during the course of my career, among them also coaches and teammates, without whom I would have never made it this far. Such a long career in elite sports would also not have been possible without the support of the association, the police and my sponsors."

Since his debut in November 2002, the Austrian crowd favorite was participating in a total of 309 World Cups and took 12 wins. Andreas Kofler won the 4-Hills-Tournament in the 2009/10 season and was also often among the very best in the major events. He won Olympic silver on the large hill, only 0.1 points behind his teammate Thomas Morgenstern in Torino 2006 and claimed two gold medals in the team events at the Winter Games 2006 and 2010. At World Championships, the Tyrolean won three gold medals in team competitions and silver on the normal hill 2011.

"Andi achieved great results at Olympic Games and World Championships and has always been a hard-working, exemplary athlete. Last year, after suffering from the disease, which was not easy to deal with, he fought his way back, even if it was not enough for the top in the end and he didn't make the team for the World Championships at home in Seefeld. I felt very sorry for him because of that. But he can definitely be proud of his long career", says head coach Andreas Felder.

Athletic director Mario Stecher also has words of praise: "I congratulate Andreas on his great career. During all these years he has always been an exemplary professional and he remained a role model for our young athletes until this day. For good reason, Andreas was one of our most popular athletes for many years. I wish him all the best for the future."

Right now Andreas Kofler has no definite plans for the time ahead: "Currently I'm spending a lot of time with my daughter and for the first time in many years I'm looking towards an unclear future."