Vattenfall Europe AG becomes the second national partner for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics berlin 2009™

Author: BOCCurrent events Aktuelles Aktuelles Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Almost 200,000 tickets have already been sold / Status of preparations is presented by the BOC

Dr. Clemens Prokop, Klaus Wowereit, Tuomo Hatakka and Michael Mronz at the press conference on the occasion of the presentation of the second National Partner of berlin 2009&trade
©Bernhardt Link

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The Berlin energy supplier, Vattenfall Europe AG, will be a national partner for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics berlin 2009™. Klaus Wowereit, the mayor of Berlin, presented Vattenfall as strong partner for the World Championships in Athletics and the state of Berlin. At a press conference in the Red City Hall, the World Championships organising committee also presented the current status of their preparations.

The mayor of Berlin and president of the organising committee, Klaus Wowereit, cheerfully announced the participation of Vattenfall Europe AG as a national partner: “We are pleased to have won Vattenfall, an international company that, at the same time, has strong regional roots, as a partner for the World Championships.”

Following Deutsche Post, Vattenfall will be the second national partner for the largest sporting event of the year. As the exclusive energy supplier for the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics berlin 2009™, Vattenfall will put the athletes in the right light. From August 15-23, 2009, all of the events in the Berlin Olympic Stadium as well as the road races in the Berlin city centre will be receiving their electrical supply from Vattenfall, among other suppliers.

Tuomo Hatakka, Chairman of the Board of Vattenfall Europe AG, also expressed his pleasure: “As the largest energy supplier in Berlin, Vattenfall has already demonstrated its long-time bond with the city, and it is involved in many areas. We are very pleased to now be able to accompany this major sporting event as a partner in the capital city.”

The executive president of the World Championships organising committee and president of the German Athletics Association (DLV), Dr. Clemens Prokop, welcomed the partnership: “Following Deutsche Post, with Vattenfall, we have been able to win a second strong company as a national partner for the World Championships.”

Dr. Prokop also presented an overview of the status of the preparations for the World Championships, emphasising the constructive discussions with the world athletics organisation, IAAF. The IAAF views the current status of the World Championships preparations quite positively. Dr. Prokop thanked the host-broadcaster, BERTA, which will be producing the high definition worldwide television signal, for its intensive and constructive cooperation in preparation for the television broadcasting of the World Championships in Athletics. ARD and ZDF have announced that they will alternate daily to broadcast 63 hours live from berlin 2009™. The World Championships in Athletics will be broadcast on TV in over 190 countries around the world.

Great interest has already been demonstrated for the volunteer programme for the World Championships in Athletics. By the registration deadline on January 31, 2009, over 5,000 applications were received to be involved as one of 3,500 volunteers at the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics berlin 2009™. Currently over 3,200 volunteer interviews have taken place. Once all of the personal application interviews have been completed in the following two months, the applicants will be informed in April 2009, about the status of their volunteer activities.

Dr. Clemens Prokop also announced a diverse cultural programme that will be taking place along side the World Championships. The cultural activities in the city centre will be concentrated in the “KulturStadion” (Stadium of Culture). The KulturStadion will be modelled after the Berlin Olympic Stadium and will be set up on Pariser Platz, where concerts, exhibits, television broadcasts, and interviews will be taking place throughout the World Championships. The complete event concept will be presented to the public at the end of March.

Michael Mronz, steering board member of the BOC, was delighted with the continued strong sales of the tickets for the World Championships: “With almost 200,000 tickets already sold, the current sales are well beyond our expectations. This demonstrates that our PR and promotion concept is successfully reaching our potential ticket-buyers. We are confident that the interest in the World Championships in Athletics will continue to grow in the upcoming months.”

Michael Mronz continued, “The next steps of our PR concept for the promotion of the World Championships in Athletics are already set, with the prominent exposure at the Ball des Sports in Wiesbaden and the presentation of the ‘Faces of the World Championships’.”

On next Saturday, February 7, the sports gala “Ball des Sports” in Wiesbaden will have a consistent theme of the 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics berlin 2009™ under the motto of “Lauf der Welt” (The Way the World Runs). In addition to a pole vaulting presentation by athletes Lars Börgeling, Richard Spiegelburg and Karsten Dilla, the German world-class javelin throwers, Christina Obergföll and Steffi Nerius, will demonstrate their track and field discipline on an interactive javelin simulation apparatus in the berlin 2009™ lounge.

Anyone interested can also go online to www.berlin2009.org to submit name suggestions for the berlin 2009™ mascot, who was also present at the press conference. Currently over 1,500 suggestions have been submitted to the World Championships organising committee.

At the end of the press conference, Klaus Wowereit presented a positive outlook for the continued preparations for berlin 2009™: “We are very satisfied with the current planning status for the World Championships in Athletics in Berlin and we are looking forward to this fantastic event for the capital and for Germany.”

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