Her ambassadors include Laura Dahlmeier, Denise Hermann, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Sergei Bubka
In more than four months of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine, it is no exaggeration to say that millions of people around the world have joined in helping our state. We are talking about ordinary citizens who simply donate to Ukrainian or international funds, and volunteers of various sizes, and famous personalities in the world of sports and not only who have created their own organizations to collect assistance to our state in any form.
Read also: Ukraine cannot be broken! The Russians damaged hundreds of sports facilities, but our athletes continue to train (photo)
Germany, like many other states, is very active in terms of humanitarian aid to Ukraine. In particular, in sports, where an entire association called “Athletes for Ukraine” was created. She raises funds, buys equipment, food, clothes, medicines, and also helps Ukrainian athletes.
The association was created by the 1992 Olympic biathlon champion Jens Steinigen, who simply could not put up with the injustice that is happening in our state after the invasion of the Russian army. The now successful lawyer Steinigen raised his sports contacts and in a matter of days more than 20 Olympic and Paralympic champions became ambassadors of the organization. At the end of June there are already more than 300 people and someone else is constantly joining.
“The creation of the organization is aimed at ensuring that famous German athletes help draw even more attention to the war in Ukraine and the need to help Ukrainians. By the way, everyone, not only a professional athlete, can become a member of the Association “Athletes for Ukraine”. Anyone who is not indifferent to Ukraine, who cannot look at the atrocities taking place in your country, can join the help.
We all believe that Putin should be stopped as soon as possible and help the Ukrainian people protect their homes,” said project curator Markus Kecht..
Among more than 300 ambassadors, there are many well-known athletes in Germany and Europe: Laura Dahlmeier, Denise Hermann, Kenten Fillon Maillet, Maren Hammerschmidt, Simon Schempp, Bjorn Ferry, Vannesa Hinz, the elder brother of ex-player of the German national team Bastian Schweinsteiger Tobias and others.
Another star abmassador of the Association “Athletes for Ukraine” was the President of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine Sergiy Bubka. The 1988 Olympic champion recently spoke at a press conference of the organization in Munich, where he spoke about how Ukrainian athletes live in a war.
“It is very important for the Association to have Sergey Bubka as an honorary ambassador. After all, only his name helps our organization to increase the number of donations in favor of Ukraine. With this money, we buy medicines, baby food, food and much more, which your state needs so much now,” Kekht continued.
Representatives of the fund sincerely admire Ukrainians, both ordinary people and athletes. According to Kecht, German society is surprised by how Ukraine reacted to the Russian invasion. The fact that we have been repulsing the enemy for more than four months and are not going to retreat.
“This unwillingness to give up and strong character resonates in the hearts of German athletes. After all, you yourself understand that in the character of every athlete there is intransigence. And when they now see it in Ukrainians, they have an even greater desire to help,” says Markus Kecht.
The Germans also believe that Ukrainian athletes are the ambassadors of our state in the world, and each of their victories is extremely important. And sometimes not even a victory, but just a decent performance, which was demonstrated by the Ukrainian national football team in two playoff matches for reaching the World Cup. Kekht noted that although Ukraine did not beat Wales and did not make it to Qatar, our football players won millions of hearts around the world with their passion.
Association “Sportsmen for Ukraine” plans to increase the amount of assistance to our state. This assistance will concern not only the purchase of food, clothing or medicines, but also cooperation with the sports centers of our country.
“We want to help the Chernihiv biathlon center destroyed in the first days of the war. We will provide all the necessary equipment that Ukrainian athletes will be able to use there in the future. Also, a minibus will leave from us to this center.
We will see what we will be able to convey, but we would very much like to give hope to the young generation of Ukrainian athletes. And give it because of the opportunity to play sports. By the way, we have another interesting idea. I won’t tell the details yet, but I’ll say that we are talking about cooperation between the biathlon center in Chernihiv and Ruhpolding,” said Kekht.
The war in Ukraine has been going on for the fifth month now, and none of us should stop helping the country on its way to victory. Complete victory!
Source: Sportarena
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
