Boise State professor is ready for a second Olympic effort

BOISE, Idaho — For nearly four decades, Werner Hoeger has dreamed about the Olympics.

As a child in Venezuela, he was fascinated by gymnastics at the Summer Games in Mexico City. As an adult, he was captivated by the Venezuelan flag displayed in honor of a countryman competing in Nagano.

Now the flag will fly in his honor when the 52-year-old Boise State professor competes in the luge during the 2006 Turin Games in February. He will be the oldest luger there, more than 33 years older than some athletes on the U.S. luge team.

"I feel like you have to have goals in life. Goals keep you motivated," Hoeger said. "We have to be realistic — in the sport of luging, we don't have a chance of medaling."

The top finishes likely will go to athletes from countries traditionally strong in luge, such as Germany, Italy, Russia, Austria, Canada and the United States. Still, just getting the opportunity to perform at the Olympics is enough for Hoeger.

"I love to compete, and I'm drawn because I missed out on the opportunity as a youngster," he said. "At first, I didn't think I could do it."

The competitive drive began early for Hoeger. As a child growing up in Venezuela, he became one of the most decorated gymnasts in the country's history. He was the nation's all-around champion from 1970 to 1975, and although he was skilled enough to compete individually at the Olympics, his hopes were denied when the Venezuelan squad failed to qualify as a team. At 16, he won a gymnastics scholarship to BYU and moved to the United States.

He put his Olympic dreams aside, earned a degree and eventually found work at Boise State as a professor in the kinesiology department.

Hoeger said his thoughts did not turn to competing in luge until 1998, when he watched Iginia Boccalandro of Venezuela compete in the event at the Nagano Olympics. When he called her after the Olympics, Boccalandro encouraged him to try the sport.

He took his teenage son, Chris, to a luging clinic and the sport became a father-son activity. A few practice runs were followed by a few competitions, and eventually the pair qualified for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City. Hoeger came in 40th, and his son 31st. More importantly, they marched beneath the Venezuelan flag.

Chris Hoeger said he was a little unprepared for the strong emotions he saw in his father.

"It was a lifelong dream of his," he said. "For me, it was less of a big deal because I was so young and it probably didn't set in as much as it should have."

Werner Hoeger is keeping his goals simple.

"My goal is to have four clean runs," Hoeger said. "There is a certain amount of risk involved in the sport, and though the injuries are seldom serious, you do take a pounding."