Prominent visit to GRUMA
Dieter Thoma: former ski jumper, TV presenter and now the happy owner of a forklift license from the GRUMA Academy. Read our article to find out how he fared during the training course and what he needs the license for.
On September 11, GRUMA Garching once again received a celebrity visit. After visits from kickboxing world champion Dr. Christine Theiss and radio presenter Susanne Rohrer, ski jumping legend and current ARD television presenter Dieter Thoma was now a guest.
Thoma will be competing for a good cause at this year's Linde Promi-Stapler-Cup in Aschaffenburg from September 20 to 22. In order to prepare himself optimally for this, he decided to be instructed in the art of forklift driving by the experienced trainers at the GRUMA Academy. In the morning, the TV expert was welcomed to Garching by forklift trainer Christian Neubarth. After a short photo session with interested GRUMA employees, the training team made their way to the training grounds.
Once there, trainer Christian Neubarth began with a briefing on the vehicle, an Linde E30 throttled to 3 km/h with deactivated tilt function, as it is also used in the Promi-Stapler-Cup in Aschaffenburg. For the exercise, 6 metal containers and Euro pallets were used, which had to be stacked correctly.
Thoma, who had never driven a forklift before that day, immediately mastered the two-pedal vehicle to everyone's amazement and implemented all of Neubarth's specifications fantastically. After a good 20 minutes, the E30 was replaced by a non-throttled E16 forklift, which meant that Thoma could now drive a forklift "properly". Now, according to Christian Neubarth, Thoma was "in his element. He visibly enjoyed working with the E16!". In the end, Dieter Thoma was even allowed to switch to the driver's seat of an 8-ton truck, which he also mastered very well and skillfully.
Finally, they made their way back, accompanied by lots of handshaking. At around 2 p.m., Dieter Thoma was finally bid farewell, optimally prepared for the upcoming Celebrity Forklift Cup.
Who is Dieter Thoma?
Dieter Thoma, (* October 19, 1969 in Hinterzarten), former German ski jumper and current ARD ski jumping expert.
Olympic champion, world champion and multiple German champion. Winner of the Four Hills Tournament 89/90 and 12-time World Cup winner in ski jumping.