The women's ice hockey team is traveling to the Olympic Games in Milano Cortina with medal hopes. The national team has already won bronze once before, in Sochi 2014. In an interview with blue News, former national team player Livia Altmann recalls her success back then.
On February 20, 2014, the Swiss women's ice hockey team made history at the Bolshoi Ice Palace in Sochi. They won their first Olympic medal with a 4-3 victory over Sweden in the third-place match.
"At that moment, you don't really understand what just happened," says former national team player Livia Altmann to blue News twelve years later. "Standing on the ice with the team and celebrating the victory - those are emotions that stay with you."
Even though the Swiss were regularly among the top five nations at the time and had already won the bronze medal at the 2012 World Championships, they were the underdogs in Sochi.
"It's clear that you go to the Olympics to win a medal. That has to be the goal. Nevertheless, we were the underdogs and a lot has to come together for a medal, including that famous bit of luck. This bronze game is my main memory and of course the fact that we won," says the 31-year-old.
"That was always my dream"
The memories and emotions are getting stronger right now, with the next Olympic Games just around the corner. Not least because Altmann, who had to end her career in 2020 due to injury, has been working as an assistant coach to her former national team colleague Evelina Raselli at HC Davos since this season.
"I see it from a different perspective today. With Leoni Balzer (Switzerland), Aurora Abatangelo and Rebecca Roccella (both Italy), Marie-Pierre Pélissou (France), we have players who go to the games and you're proud of them. My emotions now are such that I'm very excited and I'm pleased that they're going," says the two-time Olympian.
Altmann's success with the national team opened various doors for her. In terms of sport, she went on to Colgate University in North America in 2016: "That was always my dream. I might have made it that way too, but being an Olympic medal winner certainly helped."
Even after her career as an athlete, the bronze medal is a proof of achievement for the now self-employed HR and team developer, which she can use to show the parallels between sport and business. "People enjoy the medal and you can always talk about it."
"We have to achieve a certain breadth"
The success of Sochi not only had a positive impact on Livia Altmann's career and life, but also on Swiss women's ice hockey. "We had more visibility. It was important for us to have more media presence. Thanks to our success, we also had more arguments to push women's ice hockey."
There has been a structural change and we are certainly on the right track today. The domestic league has become more professional and exciting projects have emerged in Ambri, Zug, Bern, Fribourg and Davos. The days when only ZSC and Lugano won the title are over.
For Altmann, however, the development must be sustainable: "You have to fascinate young girls for ice hockey so that we can achieve a certain breadth. You have to be able to show them what you can achieve in this sport in Switzerland."
Even though the level of the league has risen, many young players still decide to make the leap to North America, the college league or Sweden. "Of course I would recommend everyone to go abroad, but it's important that they come back to Switzerland and that the level of our league continues to rise," emphasizes the 31-year-old.
Women's ice hockey has become particularly popular in North America with the Professional Women's Hockey League (PWHL), which was founded in 2024 and in which Switzerland's Alina Müller also plays. The majority of the players come from Canada and the USA.
"Anything is possible"
As a result, the difference in quality between Canada and the USA - the two nations have won every gold medal since the introduction of the Women's World Championship (1990) and the Olympic tournament (1998) - and the other teams is widening.
For Altmann, this is not the only reason why the two nations are better than the others. "The two countries are much bigger than Switzerland and they have a wider range of players. What's more, ice hockey is the national sport in Canada. The likelihood that you've ever had a stick in your hand is very high."
The women's group games at the Olympics
- February 6, 2:40 p.m.: Czech Republic vs. Switzerland
- February 7, 9.10 p.m.: Switzerland vs. Canada
- February 9, 8:40 p.m.: Switzerland vs. USA
- February 10, 9.10 p.m.: Finland vs. Switzerland
In Milano Cortina, the two North American nations should once again decide the gold medal between themselves. The bronze medal game should be the goal for the Swiss. The last time Colin Müller's team achieved this was four years ago in Beijing, where they had to settle for fourth place after losing to Finland.
"Anything is possible," says the former national team player. "It's a cheeky, young team and that's what we were in Sochi. I sincerely hope they go far."
