Alois Büchel

Alois Büchel was a former decathlete from Liechtenstein who did not finish the event at the 1960 Roma Olympics, and placed 14th at the 1964 Tokyo Games. On both occasions, he was the Opening Ceremony flagbearer for Liechtenstein. By profession, he was first a school teacher, but he was also a versatile pianist and organ player.

Büchel then became a well-known and celebrated theater impresario, and in 1969 founded the Theater am Kirchplatz (TAK) in Schaan. He was also known as a comedian and a strict antifascist, as his family was Jewish. During his theater and comedic career he often lampooned people with fascist backgrounds, who then tried to undermine his work in numerous ways. One of his most intense enemies was Martin Hilti, founder of world renowned Hilti Machine Tools, and a Nazi during and after World War II. For years, Hilti attempted to coerce TAK and Liechtenstein authorities to dismiss Büchel, and he was successful in 1993. Büchel was then finally dismissed from his own theater and fought against the authorities for years to be reinstalled. He won several court proceedings and received a settlement of 2.1 million francs but was never reinstated. In 2014, he was forcibly placed into a psychiatric clinic but was released soon thereafter.

Personal Best: Dec – 6628 (1964).