Florian Schwarthoff remembers - Youth Camp 1986
Some time has passed, since Florian Schwarthoff felt a breeze of international air at the European Championships in 1986. He received special recognition for the International Youth Camp at the Championships in Stuttgart. It doesn`t take him long to remember old stories of his time in the Camp.
Florian Schwarthoff (Photo: Listl)
"It was fun! But also exhausting. After I came back I slept 12 hours a night for a whole week! I will never forget the atmosphere at my first European Championships, although I was only a spectator, Schwarthoff remembers. Once more, this year a whole bunch of young athletes from the EAA and the German Athletics Federation have been given the opportunity to go to the European Championships in Munich. They will receive their first glance of a top sports event. Many of the young athletes will get the chance to meet similar people from all over the world. The idea behind the camp is to create a network of young European athletes, to give them the opportunity to view sports through the lens of another country. In 1986, Florian Schwarthoff shared his room at the youth hostel with four Polish athletes and one German athlete - Hans-Peter Lott. With the aim of internationalism, sports play a more minor role in the Camp. For Schwarthoff this is positive: "Personally, the Camp was a great experience. It`s the atmosphere that makes the Camp so special. To have the distinguished honor to be at the Championships … Although the weather was awful, the international team visited the Championships every single day.Different feeling to participate
The feeling of being a participant in a top athletic event, Schwarthoff already experienced one year later at the World Championships in Rome. "It`s a completely different feeling to participate, he says. The experience of being an active athlete he shares with only few camp participants of 1986. Hans-Peter Lott, his roommate, is the last one in the active athletic world today. Many of the international athletes quit sports. "Anyway, the camp will always be a very special event in my life. I`m curious what the boys and girls are going to do this year. They will definitely have lots of fun!
