Page 2/3, Artikel 11. / 12. Dezember 2004, Neue Zürcher Zeitung; Christof Gertsch

And there appears to be no end in sight. Markus Rogan's international career began in 2001 at the world championships in Fukuoka, where he won silver in the 200 m backstroke. At the European championships in Madrid last spring, Rogan collected - amongst other things - two times gold, at the Olympic Games two times silver. For a moment, the Austrian was even considered to be the Olympic champion. Although, it is since known that the reversed disqualification of the US American Aaron Peirsol was justified, Rogan still doesn't get annoyed about his fair reaction at the time - as he stood up for Peirsol: «Today one also knows that Maradona's hand of God wasn't the hand of God. Nobody is interested in that anymore. For me, it was also only about the gold medal in the 300m.» Finally on Thursday, at the first afternoon of competition in Vienna, Markus Rogan became double European champion for the second time in the 200 m backstroke and 200 m medley.

Within 49 minutes nota bene. Something, which no one else has managed before him. But Markus Rogan is not a star just because he can swim quickly. Markus Rogan is perfect. He looks good, is intelligent, during his time in the USA (up until the Olympic Games in Athens) he completed his bachelor degree in international relations at Stanford University.

He is successful and popular. He is likeable and eloquent, knows an answer to every question and says things that would secretly not be expected from the mouth of a sportsman: «I enjoy answering intelligent questions.» And: «The gap between victory and defeat becomes ever narrower with each race that I win.» Or: «A star must combine three characteristics within himself. He must have success, personality and the ambition to want to be a star at all.»