posted Jul 16th, 2022 - A new NSL Profile has been added to the list of celebrities in Formation Skydiving competition. Most of the featured 4-way and 8-way competitors are former or current world champions or medalists, which is nothing unusual. However, there are a few exceptions who caught the attention of NSL News and audience for different reasons.

There are currently five profiles of skydivers who are featured for some of the same and additional different reasons (Robert Chromy, Sven Ibens, Jan Klapka, Michel Lemay, Dr. Joel Shugar), and the new profile falls into the same category.

Thomas Spielvogel from Germany has not won a medal at a world championship yet. However, he still has many years to work on it, as he turned only 60 years of age today, on July 16th, 2022. He will try again this year at the FAI Outdoor World Meet 2022, where he is qualified and registered to compete with the Airbus 8-way team.

He can probably claim to be the oldest competitor of age in Formation Skydiving at the world championship, and he may also hold the highest number of attended world meets in the history of the sport. However, both of these two special merits are not the only and main reasons why Thomas Spielvogel has been added to the NSL Profiles.

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German Outdoor Nationals 2021		1		2		3		4		Total	Avg
Rank	8-way Open	3,2,1		11,22,8		20,H,19		12,B,6		Total	Avg
1	Airbus Illertissen	13		13		13		13	-1	52	13.0
2	Paranodon Bus Illertissen	7	-1	5		7		-		19	6.3
3	Sudwest	2		7		8		-		17	5.7
4	Bazinga macht KO's	3		2	-3	4	-1	4	-1	13	3.3

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Airbus 8 at the German Outdoor Nationals 2021

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The longest-standing German 4-way and 8-way competitor in the current delegation for the coming world meet is probably best known for his own special passion for the sport and the skydiving community. He surely is a wholehearted and fierce competitor when the door opens for the next round, while nobody seems to have as much fun as he does when the training and competition day is over, or usually even throughout the day.

In fact, if the environment and the atmosphere at any skydiving event does not seem to provide enough enjoyable moments, then he will simply create them, by and for himself, and for all others. There are countless stories where Spieli is a part of adventures and social events in the skydiving world, which alone could fill a book. It almost seems like he wants to live up to the meaning of his last name. Spielvogel translates straight to play-bird in English language.

His skydiving career began with his first jump on June 6th, 1979. He remembered maneuvering and landing a "Kohnke Dreieck", a triangle parachute, after exiting from a small Piper aircraft from 600 meters jump altitude. It did not take too long until his talent was detected by his future mentor, Jan Rojek, who lived in the same area, the German "Schwabenland" (Swabia). Jan Rojek launched Spieli's first 4-way team, Maitre Albstadt in 1983. Together they placed last at their first national championships a year later, where Spieli won the junior accuracy title at the same time.

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FAI World Meet 1989			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	4-way Open		TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD	Total	Avg
1	TAG Team	FR	17	16	18	17	14	14	15	16	11	14	152	15.2
2	Russia	RU	16	11	13	14	12	12	13	15	12	14	132	13.2
3	DeLand	US	14	13	16	13	12	13	13	15	11	11	131	13.1
4	China 4-way Open	CN	15	12	14	13	12	13	12	17	10	13	131	13.1
5	Italy	IT	13	12	16	14	12	11	13	14	10	13	128	12.8
6	Australia	AU	15	13	16	14	8	13	13	16	7	12	127	12.7
7	Mobel Krugel	DE	12	13	13	14	12	11	12	15	10	11	123	12.3
8	Switzerland	CH	13	12	16	14	12	11	13	14	4	12	121	12.1
9	Belgium	BE	13	12	14	13	10	10	12	14	9	-	107	11.9
10	Austria	AT	14	10	16	13	10	11	11	12	7	-	104	11.6
11	Japan	JP	12	8	13	12	11	11	12	12	9	-	100	11.1
12	Great Britain	UK	11	9	12	10	10	10	10	11	7	-	90	10.0
13	Spain	ES	11	7	11	13	9	9	10	11	8	-	89	9.9
14	Norway	NO	11	8	12	12	9	8	9	12	7	-	88	9.8
14	Denmark	DK	11	7	11	13	8	10	10	11	7	-	88	9.8
16	Sweden	SE	9	9	11	11	7	9	10	11	-	-	77	9.6
16	Netherlands	NL	11	9	11	9	9	9	9	10	-	-	77	9.6
18	Finland	FI	10	5	8	11	8	9	9	11	-	-	71	8.9
19	Canada	CA	11	8	10	11	8	7	5	8	-	-	68	8.5
20	Czekoslovakia	CZ	10	9	10	10	5	8	7	7	-	-	66	8.3
21	Brazil	BR	8	5	10	9	8	5	5	7	-	-	57	7.1
22	Ireland	IE	6	3	5	6	4	6	5	5	-	-	40	5.0
23	Zimbabwe	ZW	5	3	1	6	5	6	4	6	-	-	36	4.5
23	Iceland	IS	4	3	2	6	3	5	6	7	-	-	36	4.5
25	Portugal	PT	3	4	3	5	5	5	4	5	-	-	34	4.3
26	Chile	CL	3	4	3	6	3	5	1	6	-	-	31	3.9
27	Poland	PL	3	2	3	3	4	4	1	4	-	-	24	3.0
28	Turkey	TR	1	1	3	4	3	2	3	4	-	-	21	2.6
28	Israel	IL	2	2	3	4	2	4	1	3	-	-	21	2.6

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Jan Rojek and Spieli worked on the progression of their home team for a few more years, before they eventually won their first national 4-way title in Ampfing 1988, with Alwin Ampssler and Kurt Gaebel in the lineup, Horschtl on camera. The same Horschtls lineup added the 8-way title at the same event, and that's when the party in the corn field began.

The event was the qualification for Spieli's first FAI World Championship in Spain 1989, where he would compete without his mentor Jan Rojek and with two new team mates for Mobel Krugel. However, Spieli and Jan Rojek have been friends ever since their first 4-way jumps together, and they still join forces for some 4-way fun here and there.

There have been dark sides in his skydiving career, as well, that he has overcome with his positive personality structure. He lost his brother Peter Spielvogel in a skydiving accident, which was a tragic event for the Spielvogel skydiving family. His own accident at work as a trucker in 2012 almost ended his skydiving career. However, he did not want to give up the sport, and with the help of good doctors he was back in the air 19 months later.

Spieli has been training and competing with the German national 4-way and 8-way teams since he won his first national title in 1988, and there are hardly any world meets in this time frame that he missed. Last year, the Airbus 8-way team won the next national championship title, and Spieli is getting ready to travel to Eloy in October for the next world meet.