Athlete of the Year election: 3×3 women, Zeidler and Varfolomeev honored

If you drive from Fremersberg down to Baden-Baden on the L84a, you will also pass the luxury that the sophisticated spa town still stands for. The vineyards of exquisite wineries fall into the valley on both sides, expensive restaurants flank the street, and the very hilly golf course soon appears. Annual membership fee in the club there, whose president around 1900 was Willy A. Roosevelt, a nephew of the future US president: 1200 euros, admission fee 1500 euros, investment contribution 5113 euros. A small street lined with villas leads to the Kurhaus, which is the annual venue for the election of the athlete of the year, Kaiserallee 1.

So into the Bénazet Hall, which has been a fine seismograph for the mood in German sports for years. And you could say, a nice contrast to the noble setting: the choice fell on those that are basically only allowed to shine once every four years, like this year at the Olympic Games in Paris; who train away from the attention and where even world and European championships tend to run under the public radar.

The rhythmic gymnast Darja Varfolomeev is the athlete of this year 2024, the rower Oliver Zeidler is the athlete of the year, and the 3×3 basketball women were named team of the year. All winners won gold in Paris. And all three write their own rise and comeback stories, ones that the audience loves so much.

Varfolomeev, who came to Germany from Western Siberia alone without her parents as a twelve-year-old, barely spoke a word of German, became a squad athlete in Schmiden near Stuttgart and now, at 18, enchanted the audience in Paris with her free skate. According to her own statements, she trains almost 50 hours a week.

Zeidler, who was born into a rowing family in Dachau; his grandfather and aunt had already won Olympic gold. Who trained with his father away from the association structures, but then lost in Tokyo 2021 as the favorite in his singles, out in the semi-finals. Three years later, the 28-year-old, now technically, tactically and mentally mature, rowed the competition into the ground in Vaires-sur-Marne, east of Paris. His father gave the eulogy in a shaky voice; it was one of the most touching moments of this evening, which was full of ovations.

Finally, the 3×3 basketball players Svenja Brunckhorst, Sonja Greinacher, Marie Reichert and Elisa Mevius, who won probably the most surprising gold from a German perspective last summer. In a sport that has no structures at all in this country, as a “start-up, supported by a lot of intrinsic motivation,” but without any media attention, as Greinacher later said. Her coach Samir Suliman, like Ute Schinkitz from para-swimming, won in the “Coach of the Year” category, which suited this particularly glittering evening (the synchronized swimmer Klara Bleyer is “Newcomer of the Year”, the gymnast Kim Bui “Role Model”. of sports”). Suliman later said: “Leverkusen have achieved incredible things. But we got twice as many votes. That’s crazy. We climbed to Mount Olympus in no time. It’s very flashy to be here in Baden-Baden.”

So this time football only had a secondary role. Bayer Leverkusen finally came second again, this time in the “Team of the Year” category, and Toni Kroos, honored with the “Lifetime” award, accepted the award for life’s work via video link in a rather unflashy manner with subtle joy. What he said was almost lost in the Bénazet hall, because the main course was being served, veal fillet & prawns alongside French potato mousseline and champagne bernaise with gold leaf.

Later, after the second-place Olympic shot put champion Yemisi Ogunleye rounded off the honor with a singing performance with her gospel choir, the fractures of the evening also became clear. Huge challenges await German sport, whose Olympic record in Paris was the worst since reunification. He fears for his credibility, for television time, and in many places he continues to live in ossified structures – and above all there is the question of what will happen with the financing after the federal election.

And so after the award ceremony, all of these topics came together on a small scale. With Zeidler, who became an Olympic champion as a family business, with his father as a coach and his grandfather as a mentor. And he now said on the podium in the Kurhaus restaurant: “I and my father withdrew from the association structures in 2021 because they are too sluggish and do not create the conditions that we need as athletes. The money has to come closer to the athletes and not be put into administration, because that’s stupid.” Basketball player Brunckhorst, meanwhile, made a plea for more visibility and support in her young sport: “We have to create structures first. We currently only have one federal base, there are no leagues and, with Hanover, only one place for joint training.” How are the Olympic champions of tomorrow supposed to mature?

Especially since sports director Yorck Polus from ZDF, which broadcast the honor from Baden-Baden, spoke of a “completely fragmented market” in the late evening round. With more than 40 Olympic sports and many other non-Olympic disciplines, “we have to choose. And what we send has to be sexy.” A rowing DM in front of 150 spectators in the stands is rather the opposite – and therefore more likely to be the crumb that falls to the floor in the media food chain.

Speaking of crumbs: the 2.03 meter man had long since eaten the oversized croissant, which was easily the length of an oar blade and which was served to Zeidler on a silver platter. There are still three and a half years until the next summer games in LA, so it’s time to treat yourself to some luxury.