Report: A Special Day in Grossbreitenbach, 27th February 2002


Daniel, Daniela, Joerg and Juergen were on the way to the Thuringian woods once again. This time the destination was not Oberhof, but we steered for the city of Grossbreitenbach. Not only had a real "Andreamania" broken out there during the Olympic games, but also the euphoria increased to a "Henkelmania" in the end. Andrea came back from Salt Lake City with two gold medals, Manuela with one. The city council of Grossbreitenbach bore these circumstances in mind as well, and decided to appoint Andrea and Manuela honorary citizens. Peter Sendel, who was born in Grossbreitenbach as well, also should be honored.
After originally having had planned to take part in the great (and just as overcrowded) reception in Oberhof, the invitation for the honorary citizen celebration in Grossbreitenbach was more than all right for us. This celebration we would never ever have missed anyway... and we shouldn't be disappointed.

Joerg and Juergen already arrived a bit earlier on the spot. Of course, Joerg had much to tell because he was still very close to the impressions on the Olympic games. Mr and Mrs Klein, whose invitation couldn’t be turned down, counted to his audience soon, so the time to the beginning of the honorary citizen celebration passed pretty fast.

Together with family Klein we then went to the festival hall (thanks to our leaders, who knew the way, we even arrived there ;-)). It was already more than overcrowded; there was the rumor of 2000 visitors!!! The atmosphere in the hall was seething. After some sporting interludes by pupils of the school of Grossbreitenbach, the highlight was drawing closer. A short looking back to the Olympic games, the moments of victory were shown on a big screen once again, and then it was said: “Get out of the way for the medallists”. The entry into the hall was simply terrific and triggered thundering applause. Both, Andrea as well as Manuela, seemed to be overwhelmed, but even we were amazed. It is just impossible to put that moment into words.
After the entry they still showed some pictures of the celebrations in Grossbreitenbach and many funny and interesting interviews of and with people, who know Andrea and Manuela, e.g. former teachers and coaches, educators and their parents, of course.

Afterwards everything went in rapid successions… The city council carried out the honor, Andrea and Manuela became the fourth and the fifth honorary citizens, and they signed in the book of the town. After some nice words of both of them, the politicians, sponsors and the invited audience started their eulogies… it have been pretty much, the table for presents and flowers became too small pretty soon. Many of the children and teenagers could hardly wait to finally get the desired autograph cards and besieged a wide area around the stage. Therefore, the autographing session, which followed afterwards, lasted a little longer... We used the time to talk to Andrea's parents as well as to chat with some other people.
After the exhausting journey and the exciting awarding celebration it was time for us to go into the V.I.P area, and with that to the cold buffet... which was really good. Later on, Andrea, Manuela and their parents came into this area, too. There, Andrea devoted much time to us, showed us the medals and had a lot of time to chat with us and to drink to her success.
After this really exciting event we had to go home late in the evening, because we all had to go to work (with a transfigured/dreamy look in our eyes) next day again.

This evening was just fantastic, the Thuringians simply know to make hay while the sun shines...

Here you can find the pictures of grossbreitenbach

Back