Getting Geared Up For Paris
Competing in the Olympics is a goal that many athletes work hard to achieve throughout their careers. The University of Mannheim and the Mannheim Business School boast five Elite Sports Scholarship holders who have geared up for months to compete in Paris at the end of July. FORUM met with them during their preparations.
Credit: Dirk Markgraf
July 2024. Summer in Paris is in full swing. Thousands of athletes from more than 200 countries are traveling to the French capital to compete against each other on the pitch, in the stadium, or on the water. Among them: a bunch of Mannheim students supported by the Elite Sports Scholarship Rhine-Neckar Metropolitan Region (SSMRN).
In field hockey alone, there are three scholarship holders seeking to compete for a medal with their teams: Raphael Hartkopf, a student in the Mannheim Master’s in Management Analytics program at the Mannheim Business School (MBS), Linus Müller, a corporate law student, and Sonja Zimmermann, who is currently working towards a bachelor’s degree in the Culture and Business: Romance Studies and Business Administration program. All three discovered their love of field hockey when they were kids.
“It sounds cheesy, but it would be a dream come true for me,” says Hartkopf, describing the idea of going to this year’s Olympic Games with his team. It would be his first stint in this venerable contest, but his goal is clear: “In the end, I want to take home a gold medal.”
The MBS student says he owes his interest in field hockey to his parents, who also played the sport. “I started playing at the age of five and then decided to take it up professionally as a teenager.” The Elite Sports Scholarship enables him to combine his preparations for the Olympics with his academic pursuits.
Credit: Matthias Hangst
Experienced Olympic athletes
Unlike Hartkopf, Müller and Zimmermann would go to Paris with some experience under their belts: Both players already competed in the 2021 Olympics in Tokyo. Zimmermann’s team finished in sixth place, whereas Müller’s team, as fourth-place finishers, narrowly missed out on the podium.
“I got hit by a ball in the semi-final and suffered a crush fracture to my hip,” says Müller. “So unfortunately, I couldn’t play in the third-place playoff.” His goal for this year is obvious, therefore: winning a medal. To achieve a balance between athletics and academics, he divides his time into phases: “Last year, university was more of a secondary priority. Plus, I was struggling with back problems caused by a slipped disc, which didn’t necessarily get better by sitting in the library for hours on end,” the buddying lawyer explains. “After the Olympics, I’ll be focusing more on my studies again.”
Credit: Matthias Hangst
Zimmermann has a special connection to this year’s host city: “I’ve already spent a semester abroad in Paris, and my boyfriend lives there as well. Plus, the field hockey games take place in Colombes – the sister city of Frankenthal, where I grew up. Zimmermann, who has been on the pitch since the age of five, is optimistic about what’s coming up: “I think anything is possible with our team.”
Zimmermann finds the support provided through the SSMRN to be extremely helpful: “Right now, it’s difficult to reconcile field hockey and academics. Everything needs to be very well organized.” She says the scholarship program is a great place for her to find solutions to scheduling conflicts, for example.
Credit: Felix Zeiffer
Sprints and track cycling
Corporate law student and track and field athlete Lisa Nippgen, who wants to compete in sprints this year, likewise was on the verge of being part of one the world’s biggest sporting events before. “I was nominated for Tokyo 2021, but then got injured at pre-camp in Japan after one week and had to fly home again,” she recalls.
Nippgen took a semester off in the spring to focus on her preparations for the games. She says she had generally planned from the outset to extend her studies. “Both the university and the scholarship program supported me in this decision.” In addition to her athletic ambitions, there is one thing of special importance to her in Paris: having a great time.
Credit: Matthias Hangst
Tobias Buck-Gramcko has been racing bikes since he was 13 years old. Securing a nomination for Paris would now mean reaching his “biggest goal as an athlete.” He and his track cycling team have been preparing for months to fight for a place on the podium in team pursuit. “I would be so proud to represent Germany at the Olympics,” says Buck-Gramcko, a student in the Mannheim Master in Management program.
He was unable to take part in the altitude training camp because of a series of exams in the spring/
Alumna wins gold medal
The University of Mannheim has already seen a number of former Elite Sports Scholarship holders compete in the Olympics: Six students competed in their respective disciplines at Rio de Janeiro 2016, at Tokyo 2021, and at the 2022 winter games in Beijing.
The greatest success was achieved by Mannheim alumna Malaika Mihambo, who won the gold medal in long jump in 2021. The track and field athlete earned her bachelor’s degree in political science in 2016. Alexandra Burghardt, a former media and communication studies major, placed second in the two-woman bobsleigh competition in Beijing.
