Freund Reveals Illness

Severin Freund has announced that he suffers from epilepsy. In his first public discussion about his condition, the former ski jumper expressed the associated worries and fears.

![Severin Freund, who won Olympic gold, has been a four-time world champion and won the overall World Cup in ski jumping during the 2014/15 season.]

Freund stated, "It hardly receives attention in public, yet it affects many people," referring to his decision to come forward. He criticized the lack of discussion surrounding epilepsy.

Freund experienced his first seizure at the age of 16. "My parents and brother witnessed it, and there was a panic. No one knew what was going on," he recalled.

After the incident, he feared for his athletic career. "I was in shock and felt lost. You are not prepared for this kind of thing," he reported.

Why Freund is Speaking Out Now

Freund's biggest fear was not about his health but about potentially losing the ability to pursue his dream as a ski jumper. "My biggest fear was that I'd lose my sport. The considerations and dangers related to the diagnosis of epilepsy felt very abstract to me," he reminisced. "The threat of no longer being able to ski jump was very imminent. That would have been a worst-case scenario for me."

The team Olympic champion from Sochi (2014) explained why he had not previously revealed his illness during his active career.

"On the one hand, it is very personal, and I always wanted the focus to be on the sport. And also, if I performed poorly, there might have been a presumption that it was due to the condition," he justified his silence. Furthermore, he did not want to be asked about it constantly.

In 2022, Freund unexpectedly ended his career as the most successful German ski jumper in the last 20 years, with a total of 22 World Cup victories.