Laura Ludwig is at the beginning of a new phase in her career: the beach volleyball Olympic champion is working on her comeback and wants to go back to the sand in a month. A sporting venture, because she gave birth to a son almost three months ago. Is the balancing act successful?
At some point, Lenny calls. The little one whines. Laura Ludwig's almost three-month-old son is hungry. The Rio Olympic champion in beach volleyball has just spoken about her comeback plans in a media round in Hamburg, and now she is in demand again as a mother. "I love being a mom," says the 36-year-old. "But I also love to win."
After the birth of her first son Teo in June 2018, she already experienced how heavy the burden of motherhood and sports career is. "You want to give 100 percent in everything: I want to be the perfect mom, the perfect athlete, the perfect woman - and that's not always possible," she says. "A lot of women have to fight with that." For her it was "a process of accepting help".
Just in time for her upcoming comeback in the sand as a mother of two, Ludwig has published a book together with sports journalist Alexandra Muz Huber. In "Gold is a question of faith", the native of Hamburg reports on her way to the Olympic gold medal alongside Kira Walkenhorst, the initial spark through the Olympic triumph of Julius Brink/Jonas Reckermann in London in 2012 (Ludwig: "If they can do that, I can do that too"), her successful return after the birth of her first son in a duo with Margareta Kozuch up to the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo, but also about her lows and self-doubt.
Now she is at the beginning of a new chapter in her career. Training in the sand should start again in a month. The Olympics 2024 project starts. At her side: Louisa Lippmann. The 27-year-old was a world-class indoor player. At the beginning of the year she switched to the sand and moved to Hamburg. The partnership was officially announced in the ZDF "Sportstudio" on Saturday. It wasn't a surprise anymore.
"Of course I'm based on Laura, that's why Laura is a leader in our team," said the five-time volleyball player of the year on ZDF about the future distribution of roles. "At the beginning of September or mid-September I want to be in the sand regularly again," says Ludwig. "Until then, I'll keep building my body." Her current serious training is "her ten minutes of postnatal exercises a day," she says with a laugh.
Their approach to the 2024 Olympics project is slightly different than the Tokyo 2021 Olympics project. "I'm trying to find a better balance by not putting so much pressure on myself to want to make everything perfect from the beginning and think that success has to be right there," she says. Last time she "put herself under a lot of pressure and lost the fun of joy". Now she hopes "that I'll bring more patience and trust and be more relaxed".
But that doesn't mean "peace, joy, pancakes," emphasizes Ludwig. "I'm still very ambitious. I know that I only have fun with quality. I want to be back on the field and have my success again. I don't just want to mess around." But your future partner will have to be patient. Therefore, Louise Lippmann will complete another emergency internship alongside Kira Walkenhorst at the European Championships in Munich. Lenny is still demanding Laura Ludwig.
