The Sports Ball celebrates sporting successes

Frankfurt likes to describe itself as a sports city. This is an undefined term and with all the successes of Eintracht or offers on a broad basis, it can easily be discredited when you look at deficits such as the lack of a multifunctional hall. On Saturday evening, however, Frankfurt is undoubtedly something like the German sports capital.

A large part of the elite of German sports appeared at the Sports Ball: 91 medal winners at the Olympic Winter Games, World Championships or European Championships from last year came to the Festhalle to celebrate themselves and their successes. They were led by multiple Olympic luge champion Felix Loch and European decathlon champion Niklas Kaul. Racing driver Mick Schumacher spontaneously put his name on the guest list, thus compensating for the cancellation of the pregnant tennis star Angelique Kerber. In view of the number of stars, the absence of the two current female stars in German sport, Malaika Mihambo and Gina Lückenkemper, was not quite as painful. It was expected that the majority of winter sports enthusiasts, who rarely find time in the classic ball season due to the competition, were absent.

“It’s great to have an event like this where you can talk to other athletes in an informal way, especially from the past. That’s what makes this evening so special for me,” said athlete Kaul, who found his way from his home in Mainz to Frankfurt after a day with a competition in Ludwigshafen and a state athlete election, as he walked the red carpet.

Meeting of sport and economy

Kaul got his money’s worth: Germany’s currently best athletes met dozens of former Olympic champions and sports stars: from Ulrike Nasse-Meyfarth to Marika Kilius, the Frankfurt Olympic swimming champion Michael Groß, the former sprinter Renate Stecher or weightlifter Matthias Steiner to gymnast Fabian Hambüchen, Kristina Vogel or Franziska van Almsick, who, as a member of the supervisory board of Sporthilfe, also plays the role of host. According to information from the FAZ, among the celebrants was a delegation from the New England Patriots, who are currently in Germany for talks in preparation for their NFL game, which will probably take place in Frankfurt. And the athletes came into contact with the biggest sponsors of German sport from business and politics: such as the Federal Minister of the Interior Nancy Faeser (SPD), who is responsible for sport, Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing or Mercedes boss Ola Källenius. Sewing emphasized that most Olympic athletes, with their diligence in training, mostly live virtues alongside their studies or work, which are also important in the economy.

The meeting of sports, politics and business, which has taken place annually since 1970, is not only the opportunity for the German Sports Aid Foundation as the organizer to offer athletes a celebration and show appreciation to the sponsors through an evening with a sports star sitting next to them. It’s all about a good mood. Sporthilfe CEO Thomas Berlemann, who in an interview in the days leading up to the ball called for an even greater obsession with success in German sport, accordingly refrained from programmatic words in his short opening speech. He only emphasized the unifying power of sport even in difficult times.