I have long been told, by Ulli, that Absam (in Austria) is the village of the Olympians, that it has more Olympic medal winners and Olympic medals than anywhere in the world. Today when the Linger brothers (Andreas and Wolfgang) won silver in the men’s doubles luge in Sotchi, I tweeted:

Which I followed up with:

This was then challenged by @Ojars_E_Kalnins from Latvia:

Absam

Then:

The challenge laid down, now all I had to do was work out just how many Olympic medal winners there are and how many Olympic medals these Absamers have actually won.

NameDisciplineGames (year)Medal
Andreas Lingermen’s doubles lugeSotchi (2014)Silver
Wolfgang Lingermen’s doubles lugeSotchi (2014)Silver
Christoph BielerNordic combined teamSotchi (2014)Bronze
Andreas Lingermen’s doubles lugeVancouver (2010)Gold
Wolfgang Lingermen’s doubles lugeVancouver (2010)Gold
Andreas Lingermen’s doubles lugeTurin (2006)Gold
Wolfgang Lingermen’s doubles lugeTurin (2006)Gold
Christoph BielerNordic combined teamTurin (2006)Gold
Christoph BielerNordic combined teamSalt Lake City (2002)Bronze
Ernst Vettoriski jumping individualAlbertville (1992)Gold
Ernst Vettoriski jumping teamAlbertville (1992)Silver
Andreas Felderski jumping teamAlbertville (1992)Silver
Olga Pallwomen's downhill skiingGrenoble (1968)Gold
Josef Feistmantlmen’s doubles lugeInnsbruck (1964)Gold

This works out as seven people with 14 medals between them, all this from a village of less than 7,000 people. Or to put it another way, that works out at one medal for every 479 people!

Just remember, this could yet change, the Sochi Games ain’t over yet!

Addendum: It has been pointed out to me that Olympians are all people who compete in the Olympics, not just those who win medals. This would mean that I need to up the count as there are Olympics competitors from Absam who have (yet) won an Olympics medal, such as Georg Fischler. Really I should change the title of the post, or find the missing athletes, but not tonight.