Wolfgang SCHWARZ

Wolfgang Schwarz was not favored at the 1968 Winter Olympics, as his countryman Emmerich Danzer was World and European Champion in 1966-68. But Schwarz, who placed second to Danzer at the 1966-67 Worlds and the 1966-68 Europeans, won the gold medal when Danzer performed poorly and placed only fourth at Grenoble. Schwarz never managed to win another major championship.

His later life was not as illustrious. In 2002 he was sentenced to 1½ years in prison on trafficking charges related to importing young Lithuanian girls to Austria to serve as prostitutes. After his release from prison, Schwarz sold a Wien home to a Romanian law firm, which rented it to Romanian businessman Andrei Şerban. Şerban’s daughter lived in the home. Shortly thereafter, Schwarz engaged in a plot to kidnap the daughter and hold her for $4 million ransom. He had hired someone to commit the crime, but it was never executed. The plot was discovered and Schwarz was arrested in 2006. He confessed to the crime, commenting, “I admit it was my idea to kidnap the woman. I cannot explain it.” He was sentenced to eight years in prison in August 2006.