Munich celebrates the European Championships – Munich

The people of Munich, who are enjoying the summer in the city, are currently experiencing a special kind of hare and hedgehog game. Whichever direction you start in, the sport is already there. The European Championships make the city shimmer, from the Königsplatz to Oberschleißheim in the north, from the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle in the Westpark to the exhibition center in the east. The heart of the city is beating in the Olympic Park, more vigorously and happily than anyone would have believed before. In turn, those who stayed at home inspire the athletes, so numerous are they there to support them when they are fighting for medals. The SZ followed in the footsteps of the championships, all over town.

triathlon

What could be nicer than sprawling on a picnic blanket and watching other people sweat? Anyone who has secured a strategically favorable place early enough at the weekend, for example on a slope of the Olympic mountain, has the best view of the supreme discipline of endurance sports, the triathlon, that three-way battle on water, on bike and on foot. First they swim through the Olympic Lake, then race through and curve around the Olympic grounds, and finally they run cross-country through the park.

Spectators are always and everywhere along the way and cheer on the triathletes. However, there is at least one spectator who does not make himself comfortable and simply waits until the athletes come back for their next round: He even accompanies the triathletes on their arduous way up to the Olympia Alm. The German triathlete Lasse Lührs confessed afterwards that it was a “Tour de France feeling”: “A guy ran along the whole mountain – crazy! I’ve never experienced anything like that!”

In addition to the Olympia Alm, they have set up a second beer garden – the “Heimat-Roof”. There, the spectators crowd particularly close to the racetrack. But they have to wait until the last athlete has passed before they can pass the course and get a drink. While you can see on the screens that the first ones have long since crossed the finish line, it’s still a question of waiting. Then finally the last one comes by, Arturs Liepa from Latvia. The cheering for him is at least as loud as for the winning field – and that’s not just because people are finally getting their long-awaited beer. You’re more than welcome to queue for another half hour. Long after the races, when you’re already on your way to the tram, you meet some of the athletes outside the park. How does such an athlete get to his accommodation after a grueling race? Of course with the racing bike.

table tennis

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Anyone who throws a few balls over the net playing ping-pong on the platter in the park and thinks they can qualify as a professional spectator at a European Championship should take a look at the Rudi-Sedlmayer-Halle. No fewer than eight table tennis tables are set up on the parquet floor. One in the middle is easy to identify as center court, i.e. the central playing area. The images from there are transferred to the large video cube. Even during the qualification in the mixed doubles, the eyes can hardly follow, the ball whizzes back and forth so quickly.

But if you want to play the polyglot observer on this Saturday afternoon, you first have to get your eyes used to the record hopping. The Swedish mixed doubles can be easily recognized by the playing clothes in national colors, the same applies to the Spanish duo. It’s less clear who they’re playing against. Until you discover a video board on the wall of the hall showing all the games. But then you can’t really concentrate, because a cacophony of clapping echoes through the hall. The respective fan community has gathered behind each table in a wide circle to cheer. So some cheer for a point when a player at the next table just sends off a galvanized service and another table further on an athlete produces a backspin that the ball almost wants to turn around. That’s how it works all around.

Finally, in this round everything culminates in the mixed duel between Spain and Serbia. The game sways back and forth, there’s smashing and “Vamos” yelled, it’s a joy. In the end, that was enough for a small Spanish victory, and one thing can be revealed to the players in the park: In this preliminary round of the mixed, someone who, after looking at his well-filled, tight sports shirt, one could imagine on the plate next door, excelled. Until he hit the first ball.

track bike

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For visitors to Munich, the first impression of track cycling could be a little disturbing: What kind of monstrous steel construction did they build in our vaccination center, you may ask. Many had to come out to Riem because of the injection, the cycling fans like to do it. If you climb the steel steps, you can see a rapid wooden construction in the exhibition hall, an oval with steep walls, in which athletes on futuristic bikes with equally futuristic helmets duel daringly on this Saturday evening. Exciting for children: If you can drive very, very fast, then you will be stopped again when you get on and start driving.

“Sold out” – sold out – see the signs outside, the hall is buzzing, it’s about medals. In track cycling, the chances are traditionally good that participants from Germany clear the field, and to the delight of the spectators who jumped to their feet, they managed to do so twice in just a few minutes. Emma Hinze spun over the wooden planks for the first time after the 500-meter race as the victorious matador, then Mieke Kröger after a German final in the 3000-meter pursuit. Running while cycling, you think, until you want to buy a water after the excitement at the currywurst stand. Four euros for half a liter, so the few cents as a deposit are only a consolation prize.

rowing

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Anyone who cycled to the regatta facility in Oberschleißheim at the weekend had to make detours if they wanted to get close to the water: where you usually just drive in to sunbathe and swim was closed. European Championships, they cost admission, and the entrance was on the other side. The rowers also felt that the European Championships are not a small event, although they only worked on the outskirts of town, away from the hustle and bustle. No casual customers came by, like the climbers on Königsplatz. You have to go straight to the regatta facility.

Even if the venerable grandstands were not filled to capacity, there were still more than enough people to give the athletes a special atmosphere. They’re used to gliding quietly over the water on their 2,000-meter stretch, almost meditatively. The number of spectators and thus the cheers only increase when the boats approach the target. But in Oberschleißheim the background noise was “clearly noticeable” on the way to the start, as a German rower said. It was thanks to the fans from Switzerland that the final sprint was often heralded with cowbells. The Rotsee in Lucerne is something like the Wimbledon or Wembley of rowing. And if you can believe the athletes, the mood in Oberschleißheim was at least as good as that of the Rotsee.

BMX

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“Make some noise! ​​You’re too quiet,” the stadium announcer keeps asking the audience at the BMX final. In any case, they can hardly stop being amazed. Aaaaah and oooooh and uuuuuh!!! Incredible scenes play out on the Olympiaberg. Backflip, frontflip, truck driver, three-sixty, seven-twenty and whatever tricks you can do with the little bike when propelling over blocks, ramps, quarterpipes and other obstacles.

The stadium announcer – a real Balina, wa – rattles off the technical terms, the drivers fly through the air, into the sunset, with either the Olympic Tower or the city silhouette behind them. The German driver Timo Schulze thinks it’s a “great location”. The fact that the organizers did not charge entry for this competition and did not set up grandstands proves to be a stroke of luck. While metal and punk music is booming from the speakers, people are lying in the grass around the course, the adults have a beer within reach, the children a soda. “It gives you such a relaxed feeling,” says Paul Thölen, one of the stars of the scene. You don’t believe you’re at a sporting event, a championship at that. It’s more like Woodstock up there on the mountain. Make some noise, yeah!