Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner fulfill their dream of winning an Olympic medal. The road was long, but the reward more than deserved. Even if it wasn't love at first sight.
First impressions can be deceiving. Fortunately. When Tanja Hüberli and Nina Brunner met nine years ago and talked about working together, there was no immediate spark. "Nina wasn't quite sure whether life on the tour was for her, and I wasn't so sure that I wanted to plan five years with her right away," says Tanja Hüberli after her emotional bronze medal win.
They then said to each other, we'll just play together for a year. "When I think back, it's crazy that we're now standing here together nine years later." They showed just how much they have grown together as a unit when they played the national anthem before the bronze medal match. Hüberli and Brunner listened hand in hand while the Australians simply stood next to each other.
Perfect complement
Hüberli/Brunner's Olympic medal is one with an announcement. Having already won the European Championships twice, it has never worked out at world level until now. This year in particular, the 31-year-old from Schwyz and the three years younger player from Zug have established themselves among the absolute world leaders and won a tournament at the very highest level for the first time in Tepic.
The two complement each other perfectly, even in their hour of failure. Hüberli admitted that she had slept badly after her semi-final defeat on Thursday - and after missing a match point. "And I slept very well," Brunner replied with a laugh. "We complement each other really well."
It's the same on the court anyway, with the incredibly fast and agile Brunner as a defensive specialist and the 1.90 m tall Hüberli at the net. Above all, they have also worked hard on themselves mentally. Don't look too far ahead, take it game by game, is the motto.
Medal was not the real goal
Even after winning the bronze medal match, Nina Brunner maintained that they had not talked about a medal as a goal. "Absolutely not," assured the wife of professional ice hockey player Damien Brunner. "We just wanted to play the way we did throughout the season. It's so tight, you can't always predict how things will go." It was therefore not the case that they would have been satisfied with just a medal.
But the closer it came, the more it naturally became an issue. And on Thursday evening, the thought crossed Hüberli's mind that it was now 50:50 with winning the medal. "We also want to win it for Switzerland," she emphasized. "We've had enough bad luck with fourth places."
More important than European Championship gold
She rates this even higher than the two European Championship titles, even if the first one was very emotional right after the disappointment in Tokyo. In 2021, they were defeated in the round of 16 in a Swiss duel by the eventual bronze medallists Anouk Vergé-Dépré/Joana Heidrich. Now they virtually followed in their footsteps - and were beaming with the Eiffel Tower at a late hour.
