Sportsman's choice - Mum-to-be, Dauser and gold basketball player honored at gala
The retired biathlon "mommy" Denise Herrmann-Wick, gymnast Lukas Dauser and the national basketball team are Germany's athletes of the year. At the 77th edition of the gala in the magnificent Kurhaus in Baden-Baden, Herrmann-Wick was honored for her World Championship performance in Oberhof and Dauser for his gold medal on parallel bars in Antwerp. The fact that the basketball players around captain Dennis Schröder would be honored after their first World Championship title and a memorable semi-final victory over the star ensemble of the USA was considered a formality.
The winners, dressed in their finest attire, were honored at the festive gala on Sunday. Around 700 guests gathered in the Bénazetsaal to celebrate the end of the sporting year together. For the first time since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the event was once again at full capacity.
Hoping for more respect
For the basketball players, it is the culmination of a series of honors since the coup in Manila on 10 September. The victory over Serbia in the final and the feat against the USA two days earlier have put Schröder's team in the spotlight. "Basketball is a great sport and I hope we can get the respect for what we've done over the last two years," said Schröder, who, like the Wagner brothers Franz and Moritz and Daniel Theis, was unable to be in Baden-Baden due to the busy NBA calendar.
Instead, the Bundesliga pros around World Cup hero Andreas Obst from FC Bayern were there. The basketball players were last honored as Team of the Year in 2005: Dirk Nowitzki and Co. did not win World Championship gold, but European Championship silver. The ice hockey team (World Championship silver) and the field hockey world champions finished on the podium, but were beaten by the basketball players. Led by Schröder and super talent Franz Wagner, German basketball has a bright future ahead of it.
"Mommy" becomes a mom
For Olympic champion Herrmann-Wick, this only applies to her private life. The 34-year-old stepped down after last season and the successes at the home World Championships in Oberhof. She will soon be living up to her team nickname "Mummy": she and her husband Thomas Wick are expecting their first child in 2024. The athlete from Saxony, who celebrates her 35th birthday next Wednesday, showed with determination that you can still try something new even at an advanced age.
In 2014, she won bronze with the cross-country relay team in Sochi before switching to the biathlon two years later and quickly celebrating success. Nine World Championship medals and an individual Olympic victory in 2022 were the reward for a bold and late switch. Darja Varfolomeev from rhythmic gymnastics and ski jumper Katharina Schmid (formerly Althaus) took second and third place as multiple world champions.
Peak after trough for Dauser
Meanwhile, gymnast Dauser is following in the footsteps of Fabian Hambüchen. After the 30-year-old replaced the Wetzlar native in Antwerp as the last German gymnastics world champion to date, he is now also the first gymnast since Hambüchen in 2016 to receive the award in Baden-Baden. Dauser returned from his vacation in the Maldives with his wife Viktoria just in time for the gala last Wednesday. "It was incredibly beautiful," he told dpa.
On the way to his gold medal coup in October, Dauser had fought his way up through a low - both athletically and privately. A torn muscle bundle in his shoulder last December had prevented him from doing gymnastics for a long time. Second and third place went to swimming world champion Florian Wellbrock and rowing world champion Oliver Zeidler.
Homepage Sportsman of the Year News about the gala Schedule
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Source: www.stern.de
