Olympia 2018: Federal President Steinmeier travels to the opening ceremony of the Winter Games

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier will travel to Pyeongchang for the Winter Olympics and will attend the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang on 9. February at the opening ceremony. This was announced by the DOSB on Tuesday. Previously, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere had already promised to visit the German team. The minister responsible for sport will be present at the second weekend of the competition from 12. till 14. February to South Korea.

“This is a great honour for Team Deutschland, but it is also a signal that competitive sports are very important in Germany,”said the new DOSB CEO Veronika Rücker. She also spoke of an “important signal”, as the future financing of competitive sport is unclear due to the fact that the government has not yet been formed.

The German Olympic team and the Winter Games will thus receive far more political attention than the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, when no high-ranking politicians arrived. For Pyeongchang, only Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen, whose ministry supports numerous athletes in the German Armed Forces, cancelled her planned visit due to other commitments.