If Marc Lembeck had his way, the European Championships could start tomorrow. “Unfortunately, there are still 100 days to go,” he said on Tuesday afternoon as he sat in an illustrious group on the steps of the Olympic Stadium to start the countdown to the biggest sports festival since the 1972 Olympic Games in Munich. From August 11th to 21st, an estimated 4,700 athletes will be fighting for a total of 177 European championship titles and the associated medals in nine Olympic sports: in athletics, beach volleyball, canoe racing, climbing, cycling, rowing, table tennis, triathlon and gymnastics.
At the second edition of this European multisport event, for the first time, para-athletes will also be taking part, i.e. athletes with a disability like Marc Lembeck’s. The rower, who competes for Bayer Leverkusen, only has a vision of ten percent, but he is looking forward to the event in the summer with great expectations. “As a para athlete, you don’t often get such a big stage,” he says. He is particularly pleased that at the European Championships “inclusion is not only lived through sport, but through general togetherness”.
The topic of inclusion was very important to the organizers and organizers, confirms Marion Schöne, the managing director of Olympiapark GmbH. That’s why not only two para-disciplines are now part of the program, rowing and canoeing, but for the first time also for the medal table. What’s more, the organizers also want to offer viewers an accessible experience, including the use of “Inclusion Volunteers” – volunteers who are trained in sign language to help guests with information. “Under one roof” is the motto, alluding to the famous curved tent roof that has hovered over the sports facilities in the Olympic Park since 1972.
Like 50 years ago, they want to bring sport and culture under one roof at the European Championships, explained Schöne at the media round on Tuesday. Music, art and cultural events should be offered at the various locations and, like in ’72, be accessible free of charge. An idea that is well received by long jump Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo. “By combining sport and culture, we might be able to pick up people who don’t have that much to do with sport,” she hopes.
For the track and field athlete from the LG Kurpfalz, the World Championships are also on the schedule this summer, where she has to defend her title, but the European Championships held in the Olympic Stadium are “definitely more emotionally important”, she assures: “Starting in your own country is closer to my heart.”
The European Championships are not only an affair of the heart for the athletes, but also for the organizers, who have “worked around 80 percent during the Corona period” since the event was awarded in November 2019, as Olympiapark boss Schöne recalls. The fact that all pandemic protection measures have now been lifted and spectators are allowed to fill the stadiums and arenas without restrictions has brought great relief. So the 30 months of preparation so far should pay off after all.
In any case, Munich’s mayor Dieter Reiter (SPD) now expects “an amazing event”, and Juliane Seifert, the state secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, speaks on Tuesday of a “fixed star in top-class European sport”. Bavaria’s Minister of the Interior, Joachim Herrmann (CSU), believes that the European Championships can “demonstrate that you have great and sustainable sporting events”.
Sustainability is an even bigger topic at this event than inclusion. The fact that most of the competitions are held at or in former venues such as the Olympic Stadium, Olympic Hall and rowing regatta course or in the extensive Olympic Park, “there’s no other city in the world,” says Reiter: “We can be proud of that.” However, he also reminds that the operation and maintenance of the old sports facilities “is not available for free” – a three-digit million sum has been invested in the buildings over the years.
In return, the politicians who are giving the money are now hoping for an ideal return. State Secretary Seifert hopes that the sports festival will provide “a boost for mass sport” after two years of the pandemic. Or as Munich’s Lord Mayor Reiter put it: “It’s a pull to do sports yourself.” In any case, he could “only advertise being there” in the summer. Herrmann also raves about “eleven wonderful days” in August: “You can also take a holiday before and after. But you have to be there at this event.”