The German Athletics Federation centenary celebrations
6 July 1998 -Monte Carlo - The splendour of the Berlin Rathaus (town hall) was the backdrop for the celebration of one hundred years of the Deutsche Leichathletik Verband (German Athletics Federation) on Saturday. Among the celebrities attending were the President of the Federal Republic of German, Professor Dr Roman Herzog, the IAAF president Dr Primo Nebiolo, the Lord Mayor of Berlin, Eberhard Diepgen, and an important number of past and present Olympic, World and European champions - including the 102 year-old Hans Senftleben. Professor Helmut Digel opened the ceremony by recounting the glorious past of the Federation, while the Mayor of Berlin promised to engage his very best endeavours to ensure that the restoration of the city’s Olympic Stadium would include the maintenance of an athletics track which could eventually host a future World Championships.
During his speech, Dr Nebiolo rendered homage to the talent and sports-oriented culture of German youth, which he himself had benefited from as a youngster following the duels between German star Rudolf Harbig and Italian champion Mario Lanzi. Harbig, said Nebiolo, was probably one of the greatest athletes Germany had even known, a model of moral and physical strength who was one of the pioneers of the then-revolutionary concept of interval training. Nebiolo also praised the memory of Professor Waldemar Gerschler, the sports scientist who had developed this training concept.
The IAAF President went on to recall two great leaders of the German athletics movement: Marx Danz and August Kirsch, and closed by presenting the German President, Roman Herzog, with a commemorative plaque in the name of the world athletics movement and in paying tribute to the President of the DLV, Helmut Digel, for his hard work and dedication in restoring the splendours of German Athletics.
ENDS