Frankfurt am Main (ots) –
Deutsche Sporthilfe and Deutsche Bank award the EM runner-up, medical student and young mother for special achievements as a top student athlete
Kitesurfer Leonie Meyer is “Sport Scholarship Holder of the Year” 2021. The 28-year-old from Kiel won EM silver in the mixed team last year and is about to take her second state examination in her studies in human medicine. In the online vote initiated by Deutsche Bank and Deutsche Sporthilfe, Meyer, who became a mother for the first time in May of this year, sat down against Hannah Gablac (hockey), Katharina Lang (wheelchair basketball), Deborah Levi (bobsleigh) and Andreas Bechmann (Decathlon) through.
On Thursday evening, Leonie Meyer was honored by Karl von Rohr, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Bank, and Thomas Berlemann, Chairman of the Management Board of Deutsche Sporthilfe, at the award ceremony, which was broadcast live from Deutsche Bank’s Frankfurt headquarters. Meyer was connected to the event live from the Kitesurf EM in Montpellier.
Karl von Rohr said at the award ceremony: “The past few months have also been very challenging for top-class sport. The five finalists have mastered the corona situation excellently. They are real role models for our society – like all of the 300 or so top athletes whom we support with the Deutsche Bank Sports Scholarship. Top athletes are usually not big earners and have to build their professional future parallel to sport. We support this with the Deutsche Bank Sports Scholarship. ”
Thomas Berlemann said: “Leonie Meyer belongs to the absolute European leaders in a young, modern sport and also shows outstanding achievements in her studies of human medicine. This makes her one of five very impressive finalists: a worthy sports scholarship holder of the year. As a young mother and prospective doctor, Leonie now wants to go to the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, a goal with which she will support Deutsche Sporthilfe as best as possible and with all her might. ”
Previous winners of the election were, among others, long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo, javelin Olympic champion Thomas Röhler, hockey Olympic champion Martin Häner and Judo Olympic third party Theresa Stoll. In 2020, wheelchair basketball player Annabel Breuer was the first Paralympic athlete to be named “Sports Scholarship Holder of the Year”.
The award “Sports scholarship holder: in of the year”, which has been awarded since 2013, honors the special achievements of top-class athletes studying. For the winner Leonie Meyer, Deutsche Bank, a partner of Deutsche Sporthilfe since 2001 and a national sponsor since 2008, is doubling the current sports scholarship for one and a half years from 300 euros to 600 euros per month. The four other finalists receive additional funding of 50 percent of the monthly scholarship for the same period.
All scholarships sponsored by Sporthilfe could apply as “Sport scholarship holder: in of the year” with their achievements in sport and studies, which they had achieved from May 2020 to April 2021. This year, the assessment also included how the applicants dealt with the challenges of the corona pandemic. A jury from sport, politics, business and the media selected five athletes from the applications before the online voting (portraits of the athletes at www.sportstipendiat.de).
The previous winners: inside the election “Sports scholarship holder: in of the year”:
2021: Kitesurfer Leonie Meyer
2020: Wheelchair basketball player Annabel Breuer
2019: Ski-Freestylerin Kea Kühnel
2018: Javelin thrower Thomas Röhler
2017: Judoka Theresa Stoll
2016: Sprinter Lisa Mayer
2015: Triathlete Sophia Saller
2014: Weitspringerin Malaika Mihambo
2013: Hockey player Martin Häner
Deutsche Bank has been supporting Deutsche Sporthilfe in a wide variety of ways for around four decades. Since 2001 she has been a partner of Sporthilfe and since 2008 one of the five “national sponsors”. This makes the bank the largest private sponsor in the history of Deutsche Sporthilfe. In 2012 she launched the “Deutsche Bank Sports Scholarship”. Up to 300 athletes sponsored by Sporthilfe are currently benefiting from this program.
Note to the editors
Photo, video and audio offerings for TV, radio and online:
As a tribute, we offer a video clip on the winner, which can be used free of rights and free of charge. You can embed it here via the Deutsche Sporthilfe YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/deutschesporthilfe
Further copyright-free photo material is available for download from Deutsche Sporthilfe: https://bit.ly/2VtkPe7 (Photo credit: Deutsche Bank / Florian Gerlach)
Press contact:
German Sports Aid Foundation
Fabian Mueller
Otto Fleck aisle 8
60528 Frankfurt am Main
Tel: 069/67803 – 514
Fax: 069/67803 – 599
E-mail: [email protected]
Internet: www.sporthilfe.de and www.sportstipendiat.de
Original content by: Stiftung Deutsche Sporthilfe, transmitted by news aktuell
Those: ots
