Early and Personal Life
Matthias Steiner was born in Vienna, Austria. He hails from Obersulz in Lower Austria, where he attended Volksschule (primary school), then Hauptschule (secondary school). Steiner completed an apprenticeship in plumbing.
He started weightlifting in 1995. His father, Friedrich Steiner, a 20-time IWF-Masters World Weightlifting Champion, and also ranks first on the IWF 2008 Hall of Fame Survey of Leading Master Lifters.
Since an untreated infection Steiner suffers from diabetes, diagnosed at his 18th birthday. Before the diagnosis, the first symptom was an intense thirst, then he lost appetite, and 5 kilograms (11 lb) body weight within three months. He went to the doctor when his sight deteriorated.
Despite the diagnosis he followed his dream to become a weightlifter.
In 2004, a German woman from Zwickau in Saxony had watched Steiner participating in weightlifting contests on TV. She kept asking the Eurosport commentators for his email address, until they gave it to her. She contacted Steiner, and he agreed to meet her in Lower Austria. They married shortly thereafter and hence he moved to Germany, where he then applied for German citizenship.
On July 16, 2007 his wife Susann died in a car accident. Despite the tragic loss, and after losing 7 kilograms (15 lb) or 8 kilograms (18 lb) body weight, he was able to continue his training.
In October 2008, Steiner met German TV-newsreader Inge Posmyk. They married in January 2010.
Read more about this topic: Matthias Steiner
Famous quotes containing the words early, personal and/or life:
“I believe that if we are to survive as a planet, we must teach this next generation to handle their own conflicts assertively and nonviolently. If in their early years our children learn to listen to all sides of the story, use their heads and then their mouths, and come up with a plan and share, then, when they become our leaders, and some of them will, they will have the tools to handle global problems and conflict.”
—Barbara Coloroso (20th century)
“[The election] ... was an event in which, so far as the personal side is concerned, the victory was to him who lost and the defeat to him who won. I can say that never in the last fifteen years have I had the peace of mind that I have since the election. I have almost a feeling of elation.”
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)
“There are two births: the one when light
First strikes the new awakened sense;
The other when two souls unite,
And we must count our life from thence,
When you loved me and I loved you,
Then both of us were born anew.”
—William Cartwright (1611–1643)