In fact, as early as day 2, the first edition of the European Championships, a newly created four-year competition bringing together Europeans from different disciplines, started in Glasgow and other Scottish locations. The European Athletics Championships are part of this “mini Olympics”, which take place in Berlin from 6 to 12. The athletes will compete in 48 specialties: 24 male and 24 female.

The Olympiastadion and Usain Bolt

Berlin’s 75,000 seat Olympic Stadium will be at the heart of the event. Built for the 1936 Olympics to a design by local architect Werner March and inaugurated at the start of the games by Adolf Hitler, it was initially home to 100,000 people.
Renewed in 2004, on 9 July 2006 it hosted the final of the World Cup between Italy and France, won by Italy 5-3 after the penalty shots.

But he entered the history of athletics for the world enterprise of Usain Bolt in 2009. On August 16, Bolt won the 100-metre final of the Berlin World Cup with a time of 9:58, the new world record, with an average of 2 metres and 44 centimetres each step, touching a speed peak of 43.92 km/h. Second place winner, American Tyson Gay, silver in 9″71, was 13 cents behind, while Asafa Powell finished third in 9″84, times that together with all the other performances form the fastest race ever.
After 4 days, Bolt also set the new record for the 200-metre race at 19″19.
Let’s remember that the sports surface on which Bolt has won the two records – and on which the European athletes will race – is a Regupol mantle, created by BSW.
The stadium can be visited throughout the year with the support of a guide.
Other sites
Athletics in Berlin will have its moments even outside the Olympic Stadium.
In front of the Gedächtniskirche will be organized “European Mile”, the meeting point between fans and athletes. On Monday 6th the first round of the men’s weight shot will be staged on the platform inside the arena of about 3000 seats built for the occasion, where the ceremonies of delivery of medals of all events and numerous initiatives will take place.
The marathon, on Sunday 12th, will start and finish in Breitscheidplatz, with a 10 km circuit to be repeated 4 times plus a final section of 2 km in the Tiergarten, and will cross the symbolic places of Berlin: the Victory Column, Palazzo Bellevue, the Reichstag, the Brandenburg Gate, Potsdamer Platz.
From Breitscheidplatz, the 50 km and 20 km of the route will also start.

Donald Duck to Europeans

The German comic book magazine “Micky Maus” published, in issue 16 of 27 July, a ten-page story dedicated to the European Athletics Championships, in which Donald Duck is the protagonist.
Uncle Scrooge intends to seize the opportunity to be present in Berlin and sends his nephew to compete in the decathlon, with the disastrous consequences that can be imagined.
The story, written by Danish author Gorm Transgaard and designed by Spanish director Fernando Güell, will be distributed in a special English-language version during the championships.

The image that we used at the beginning – and that we see as “clean” above – was taken up by Tobi 87 on August 19, 2009, during the World Record of Usain Bolt, and was proclaimed “picture of the day” of the English version of Wikipedia on May 27, 2011.