Overview
- Hilde Gerg appears in BR’s Lebenslinien film to share unusually personal recollections of her private life and grief.
- She describes the day her first husband, Wolfgang Graßl, died at 40 from an aortic rupture on April 12, 2010, recalling police, emergency responders, and the moment she felt “a wind.”
- Gerg explains that she twice declined Graßl’s marriage proposals during her racing career before proposing herself, and the couple wed in 2000.
- The former Olympic champion recounts being 34 with two very young children after the loss, noting she still dislikes the word “widow.”
- She says family, friends, and her athlete’s mindset helped her rebuild, later marrying physiotherapist Marcus Hirschbiel in 2013 and welcoming another child in 2015.