Many coincidences have brought badminton player Jenjira Stadelmann to the Olympic Games in Paris. But the lively Swiss-Thai player wants more.
31.07.2024, 06:44
31.07.2024, 09:19
SDA
No time? blue Sport summarizes for you
- Jenjira Stadelmann grew up in Thailand, came to Switzerland in 2016 and was discovered there in badminton.
- At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, she secured the first Swiss victory in 16 years.
- Despite the victory, she was unable to reach the round of 16 as she lost her first group match in two sets.
Jenjira, known to everyone as Jenny, Stadelmann turns to the stands and forms a heart with her head and arms. The 24-year-old is beaming all over her face. She has just beaten Rachael Darragh from Ireland, who is ranked 34 places higher, in three sets in her second match in Paris. The gesture is for her boyfriend Daniel in the stands. "That's our signal when we leave the house," she explains after the emotional victory.
The fact that Stadelmann is competing for Switzerland at these games and playing badminton at all is down to many coincidences. As a very active child, she tried out many different sports. Her father, a Swiss national living in Chiang Mai, Thailand at the time, didn't think football was suitable for a girl. "Look, you're already running like your brother, he said," she recalls with a laugh. "And now I just run like that."
Stayed with her father after the vacations
She found athletics boring, swimming gave her problems with her ears, so it had to be tennis because of Roger Federer. But her father pointed out that this was also not ideal when it was often 40 degrees outside. There was a badminton hall near home, however, and the airy ball with the feathers became Stadelmann's favorite hobby and later her profession.
She ended up in Switzerland by chance. Her father had returned because his father was suffering from heart problems. The daughter was the only one of the family who had never been to Switzerland before, so she wanted to spend her 2016 vacation with her dad. The decisive turning point came at a training camp at the Trogen sports school in Appenzellerland.
She had actually already given up her dream of a career in badminton due to back problems, but it was in Trogen that she was discovered by manager Hanspeter Kolb. He asked her, as she also had a Swiss passport, if she would like to try it out in Switzerland for a year.
Almost perfect Bernese German after eight years
Stadelmann hesitated because she didn't speak any German, as she still only communicates with her father in Thai. And she wanted to finish high school and then become a vet. But her father said: "In two years, when you've finished high school, Hanspeter might not ask you anymore." She opted for sport and did not finish high school. "Not yet", she emphasizes.
Stadelmann is a cheerful person with boundless energy, but also determined and ambitious. Today, just eight years after her arrival in Switzerland, she speaks Bernese German with almost no accent. In sporting terms, on Tuesday she became the first Swiss woman in 16 years to win a match at the Olympic Games - in a roundabout way, of course, after falling behind in sets and fending off match point.
Off to Los Angeles
She has been suffering from pain in her adductors for several weeks. She limped to the interview after her victory, but still took her time. "And now I need a vacation," she said with relief. "In Switzerland, because my boyfriend doesn't have time off." Despite the victory, she can no longer reach the round of 16, as she lost her first group match against the Olympic champion and three-time world champion Carolina Marin in two sets.
But she promises: "I want to experience an even better Olympics." 2028 in Los Angeles. Jenny Stadelmann can be trusted to do it.
