Hubertus von Hohenlohe (officially, Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg) is a 55-year-old Mexican alpine skier who will be one of the oldest competitors in the Olympics in February.
He is also many, many other things. Including, but not limited to:
- A German prince
- A descendant of both the Italian family that founded Fiat and a Spanish explorer who hit it big in Mexico
- A pop musician who released records under the pseudonym Andy Himalaya
- A friend of Andy Warhol, whom he met at Studio 54
- A professional photographer
All of those details come from this great Joe Battaglia story on NBCOlympics.com.
von Hohenlohe was born in Mexico City when his dad was running a Volkswagen factory there, but grew up in Spain. He went to college in Austria, where he got into competitive skiing, and also has citizenship in Liechtenstein.
He describes his nation identity as "Latin" (via TIME):
"I feel very Latin in a way, and Spanish. The Spanish were the ones who came to Mexico in the end, so I do feel Mexican. Naturally I have more ties to Spain, but I'm more of a Latin person. Although our name is very German, and we're a German aristocratic family, we really grew up in more of a Mediterranean way. My look is not very German. People think I'm from Argentina, or, I don't know, Italy. But they don't think I'm from Germany and Austria."
Sochi will be his sixth time representing Mexico in the Olympics, even though he admittedly only spends a few weeks there every year. He's the country's only Olympic skier. His first games were in Sarajevo in 1984.
This guy is all over the map.
Here he is at a charity event in Spain last spring:
His ski suit is a mariachi band costume:
The most interesting Olympian in the world has a mariachi ski suit http://t.co/o9333hQ8lNpic.twitter.com/59oTbgaYVx
— SB Nation Olympics (@SBNOlympics) January 27, 2014Here is singing a song called "I Want Pop":
At the 2010 Olympics:
In 2005, he showed a photography collection called "It's Me!" where every photograph was a picture of himself (via Deadspin):
von Hohenlohe has never gotten close to the medal podium, and he's not expected to start now. But when it comes to living an impossibly full life, he cannot be touched.