FIL Sports Director Maria-Luise Rainer celebrates a milestone birthday

 Berchtesgaden (RWH) Maria-Luise Rainer, Sports Director at the International Luge Federation (FIL), celebrated a milestone birthday on 23 April. Originally from South Tyrol in Italy, the former athlete won the overall World Cup in the winter of 1985/1986, bronze at the FIL World Championships in 1979 and silver at the 1980 European Championships. For the four-time Olympic athlete (who finished sixth in Sarajevo in 1984), life without luge is almost impossible to imagine.

Following her successful career as an athlete, Maria-Luise Rainer became a coach for her home country and Canada before going on to take on a variety of official roles: she initially spent many years as the International Luge Federation’s (FIL) Permanent Technical Delegate for the Junior World Cup before becoming the race manager for the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin (ITA). In the winter of 2010, she took over the role of FIL Sports Coordinator from Karl-Heinz Anschütz and was later appointed FIL Sports Director.