Peter Seisenbacher

Peter Seisenbacher (born 25 March 1960) is a judo coach and retired judoka from Austria. He competed in the middleweight category (−86 kg) at the 1980, 1984 and 1988 Olympics and won two gold medals, in 1984 and 1988.[1] He also won a world title in 1985 and European title in 1986.[2]

Peter Seisenbacher

Peter Seisenbacher in 2009
Personal information
Born	25 March 1960 (1960-03-25) (age 60) Vienna, Austria
Height	1.86 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight	86 kg (190 lb)
Sport
Sport	Judo
Club	JC Manner, Wien Budoclub Wien
Medal record Representing  Austria Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles -86 kg 1988 Seoul -86 kg World Championships 1985 Seoul -86 kg European Championships 1986 Belgrade -86 kg 1980 Vienna -86 kg 1983 Paris -86 kg 1986 Belgrade open 1984 Liege -86 kg 1984 Hamar -86 kg 1987 Paris -86 kg 1988 Pamplona -86 kg

After retiring from competitions, Seisenbacher worked as a judo coach, in Austria, Georgia (2010–2012), and Azerbaijan (2012–2013). Under his guidance, the Georgian team won 2 gold, 3 silver, and 4 bronze medals at European championships, one bronze medal at world championships, and an Olympic gold medal in 2012.

After years of circulating rumors, in June 2014 a number of women filed criminal complaints against Seisenbacher for alleged sexual misconduct against them when they were still minors or children. On October 5, 2016, Seisenbacher was formally indicted by the Vienna Prosecutor's Office for statutory rape of two girls who at the time were less than 14 years of age, and for attempted sexual assault of one girl who at the time was 16 years old. The first indictment involved a girl who was 11 when in 1999 she allegedly was sexually assaulted at multiple occasions by Seisenbacher lasting until 2001; the second indictment involved the sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl in 2004. The attempted sexual assault of the 16-year old allegedly occurred during a training camp in Croatia in 2001.[3][4][5][6]

The formal indictment came after a lengthy judicial investigation following earlier police complaints filed in 2013 by several former pupils, as reported by numerous newspapers in June 2014.[7][8][9]

However, in December 2016 Seisenbacher failed to show up for his trial in court for two days in a row and instead fled the country, after which he officially became a fugitive from justice on worldwide warrant.[10] [11][12] While Interpol searched for him in Europe, Kazachstan, the United States and Dubai,[10] Seisenbacher was able to remain on the run for 200 days. Considered dangerous, he was finally arrested by a SWAT team on August 2, 2017 in Kiev, Ukraine and was handed over to Austria on September 12th, 2019.[13][14][15][16][17] The trial started on November 25th in Vienna, on December 2nd Seisenbacher was found guilty and sentenced to 5 years in prison.[18]

References

1. Peter Seisenbacher. sports-reference.com
2. PETER SEISENBACHER (Austria). realjudo.net
3. Reibenwein, Michaela (5 October 2016). "Seisenbacher soll Mädchen missbraucht haben". Kurier.at (in German). Retrieved 6 October 2016.
4. The Standard (6 October 2016). "(Judo) Austrian Olympian charged with sex assault of girls". The Standard (Hongkong). Retrieved 6 October 2016.
5. L'esprit du Judo (6 October 2016). "Ein Feuerwerk an Fußwürfen bei FTN". L'esprit du Judo (in French). Archived from the original on 9 October 2016. Retrieved 6 October 2016.
6. DE News Today, "Doppel-Olympiasieger Seisenbacher wegen Missbrauchs angeklagt", DE News Today, October 5, 2016
7. Wiener Zeitung (11 June 2014). "Ermittlungen gegen Seisenbacher bald abgeschlossen". Wiener Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 12 December 2015.
8. DiePresse.com (10 June 2014). "Olympiasieger Seisenbacher steht unter Missbrauchsverdacht". Die Presse (in German). Retrieved 10 June 2014.
9. Wiener Zeitung (5 October 2016). "Seisenbacher wegen Kindesmissbrauchs angeklagt". Wiener Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 13 November 2016.
10. "Interpol - Red Notice: Seisenbacher, Peter". Interpol. 2017. Retrieved 20 February 2017.
11. JudoInside (19 December 2016). "Double Olympic Champion Peter Seisenbacher faces worldwide search warrant". JudoInside.com. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
12. Kurier.at (19 December 2016). "Seisenbacher erschien nicht vor Gericht". Kurier.at (in German). Retrieved 19 December 2016.
13. Berliner Zeitung (2 August 2017). "Schwerer sexueller Missbrauch Olympiasieger Seisenbacher in der Ukraine gefasst". Berliner Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 10 August 2017.
14. OE24.TV, "Auf der Flucht: Peter Seisenbacher in Kiew gefasst OE24.TV", OE24.TV, August 2, 2017
15. OE24.TV, "Auf der Flucht: Peter Seisenbacher in Kiew gefasst ", OE24.TV, August 2, 2017
16. N24, "Judo-Olympiasieger Peter Seisenbacher verhaftet – Verdacht auf Kindesmissbrauch", N24, August 2, 2017
17. Der Standard (12 September 2019). "Peter Seisenbacher aufgegriffen und nach Wien ausgeliefert". Der Standard (in German). Retrieved 12 September 2019.
18. Vorarlberg Online (2 December 2019). "Urteil steht: Österreichs Olympiaheld Peter Seisenbacher muss 5 Jahre in Haft". VOL.AT (in German). Retrieved 2 December 2019.

Awards
Preceded by Franz Klammer	Austrian Sportsman of the year 1984–1985	Succeeded by Michael Hadschieff
Preceded by Andreas Felder	Austrian Sportsman of the year 1988	Succeeded by Rudolf Nierlich