A little quiz for the summer days, now that the Olympic sport is moving into public memory again: rank the following sporting events by importance and actual existence, in descending order:
European Championships. Championships of Europe. Europe Games. European Games. European Championship Games. European Championship Games of Europe. Eurovision Song and Sporting Contest. Na?
It’s remarkable how Monty Python’s bards guessed about 40 years ago what would happen decades later in European sports (and not only there). At that time the Judean People’s Front and the People’s Front of Judea were at war, and the splitters from the Popular People’s Front of Judea first! And now: It goes without saying that it is not enough to set up a multi-sport event that combines several European championships as a mini Olympics.
On the one hand, there are the European Championships, which were set up by the private sector and have carried out this concept twice, in Berlin and Glasgow in 2018 and in Munich a year ago. On the other hand, the European arm of the International Olympic Committee, the European Olympic Committee (not to be confused with the European Championships Management) has been launching its version of the European Games for a while. It all started in Baku in 2015, in 2019 it was Minsk’s turn, and since Wednesday (until July 2nd) Kraków has been able to let off steam. You work your way up the democracy index of the host countries.
In fact, the program has grown considerably: 7,000 athletes, 29 sports (including the traditional summer mat jumping of ski jumpers), in 12 of which the competitions function as European Championships. The German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has nominated 287 athletes (434 at the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo). And because the IOC plays well, there are quota places and ranking list points for next year’s Summer Games in Paris in 19 sports. A tried and tested means of persuading athletes and associations to take part, well, gently.
It is understandable that German boxers, canoeists and triathletes are now emphasizing how serious they are about these European Games. The qualification paths are one thing. The other thing is the visibility: With all due respect, an EM in triathlon hardly makes it into the news columns, a Muli-EM sooner (although ARD and ZDF from Krakow are apparently hardly broadcast, completely different from the last time at the championships in Munich) .
In any case, the danger of sinking into the stream of arbitrariness is great. Each reader may want to start a field study in their circle of acquaintances about who can tell the difference between European Games and European Championships – and how useful it all is. Core sports such as swimmers are currently not participating in one or the other format, the track and field athletes were represented in both until the end – but only with a less important team event for the games, and for the championships for 2026 (for which there is no organizer yet). she already signed out again. You would then prefer to market yourself.
In any case, the idea is obvious: Whoever throws more and more onto the already crowded market, on their own initiative, is not upgrading, they are devaluing themselves – like the splitters from the Judean People’s Front, uh, from the People’s Front of Judea.
