By Oliver Trust
BERLIN, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- The head of the German delegation for the 7th CISM World Military Games held in Wuhan from October 18-27 told Xinhua that Germany is expecting a motivated host-team, overwhelming hospitality, and perfect organization.
"We will meet powerful competitors counting on with a profound team-spirit," major Christian Luetzkendorf commented before the German delegation took off to attend the Olympics for soldiers of the members of the International Military Sports Council.
Luetzkendorf will be the head of around about a 250 athlete-strong German team competing in nearly all of the 25 disciplines.
All pre-event competitions in China indicate good conditions, a pre-games delegation reported, as noted by Andreas Beu, the German press-officer.
"We have the highest respect for the organizers as a lot effort has been invested in preparing in the best possible way," Beu underlined. The German team is expecting China to benefit from "home advantage."
Next to China, the German delegation is convinced that Russia and Brazil will play a vital role when it comes to top-ranking places in all competitions. Like China, both nations are seen as strong summer-event competitors.
"We are looking forward to a great event," Luetzkendorf emphasized. The German delegation chief lined out the importance of the CISM World Games as vital for soldiers from all over the world.
Germany has been a CISM member for 60 years and will be hosting the 2021 winter games in Berchtesgaden and Traunstein, located in the Bavarian alpine region.
The German army, the Bundeswehr, is the country's biggest supporter of sports-athletes, with 744 athletes forming part of the so-called "Sportfoerdergruppen" (sports promotion groups). They are spread over 12 center-points over the entire country.
Over half of the German medals won at Olympic games are achieved by employees of the Bundeswehr. The track and field athletes Gesa Felicitas Krause (3000 meters steeplechase) and shot-putter Christina Schwanitz both won bronze at the 2019 Athletics World Championships which recently took place in Doha.
All German CISM athletes have a service grade, but not all are serving army members; some are listed as sports soldiers.
About half of the women's football team, as well as the male basketball side, are employed by the Bundeswehr as serving personal. Niche sports athletes like Archery performers highly benefit from the German system based on the army.
All athletes practice either in army facilities such as the main army sports-school in Warendorf located in the state of North-Rhine Westphalia but mainly in their clubs or Olympic training centers.
Every discipline section for Wuhan has a team-captain or team-manager and is accompanied by medical staff and officials.
The German team is known for its quality in winter-competitions but is on a similar level in summer events. Strong fields of the German athletes competing in the summer games are in sports including parachuting, naval pentathlon, and military pentathlon.
