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Hannawald was born in Erlabrunn and grew up in the nearby town of Johanngeorgenstadt by SC Dynamo Johanngeorgenstadt in the Ore Mountains. At age twelve, he was sent to a special school for young athletes in Klingenthal (SG Dynamo Klingenthal), also in Saxony. In 1991 his family moved to Jettingen-Scheppach near Ulm where he transferred to the Furtwangen Ski Boarding School, where he completed an apprenticeship in Communication Electronics.
In the 1998/99 season, he finished fifth place overall in World Cup Ski Jumping. At the world championships in Ramsau, he won a silver medal in the individual large hill behind Martin Schmitt, as well as winning a gold medal in the team large hill event.
In the 2000/01 season, Hannawald won gold in the team large hill event and bronze in the team normal hill event at the world championships in Lahti.
The following winter of 2001/02 was the most successful of his career: Hannawald ended second in the World Cup, winning all four Individual jumping titles at the Four Hills Tournament, the first to do so. He successfully defended his title of Ski Flying World Champion.[1] At the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City, he won gold in the team large hill and silver in the individual normal hill,[2] and was even nominated for Sportsman of the Year in Germany. Despite all of his successes, however, Hannawald could not top Adam Malysz in the overall World Cup ranking.
In the 2002/03 season, he finished again second in the world rankings and managed to set another highlight of his career: at the Worldcup competition in Willingen, Germany,[3] he became the third person in history to achieve perfect marks from all five judges (20 points maximum) – 27 years after the first one (Anton Innauer) and five years after the second one (Kazuyoshi Funaki). This mark has been matched only about one hour later at the same World Cup competition by Hideharu Miyahira, who finished sixth. Then it took another six years until Wolfgang Loitzl at Bischofshofen, Austria in 2009 during the 2008/09 Four Hills Tournament[4] became the fifth one.
In the 2003/04 season, Hannawald performed well below personal expectations. His best result was fourth in Trondheim. As a consequence of that, Hannawald ended his season prematurely. On 29 April 2004, he revealed that he was suffering from burnout and had put himself into psychiatric treatment. During this time, Hannawald managed to recover and reappeared to the public.[5]
On 3 August 2005, he ended his career as a ski jumper, explaining through his managers that, after successfully dealing with his burnout, he no longer wished to suffer the stresses of professional sport.[6]
Post-retirement
On 26 September 2008, Hannawald signed a two-year contract with the football club TSV Burgau of the German Kreisliga, where he played as a striker.[7]
