Opening ceremony of the Sport Austria Finals: Big emotions and first gold
Premiere with a bang in the "Thunderdome"! On Wednesday the starting shot was fired for the first Sport Austria Finals powered by Intersport & Holding Graz with lots of music, dance and action. At the end of the opening on Graz's main square, Sport Austria President Hans Niessl symbolically handed over the golden baton to the Styrian discus thrower Djeneba Touré. The first gold for an athlete at these Sport Austria Finals! And surprise guest Andreas Gabalier celebrated an emotional stage comeback with his hit “Steirerland” after a two-year break.
The two-hour opening show in front of 150 invited guests of honor offered a foretaste of what awaits on the big sports stage in the next four days of competition: a colorful sports festival with more than 3.500 athletes from 24 sports associations with 250 competitions at 16 sports venues.
ORF Styria presenter Sandra Suppan led through the evening, DJ Christian Prates heated up the turntables. The opening show offered a best-of-mix of the Grazer Tanzfabrik, the Tanz & Sportakademie, the UTSC Choice Styria, the New Rock Generation and the cheerleaders of the Spielberg Graz Giants project, who all showed their skills on the Sport Austria Finals stage in breaking, Cheerleading and rock and roll acrobatics showed.
Sport Austria President Hans Niessl got emotional at the handover of the baton at the start of the Sport Austria Finals: “It is a special moment that we have been longing for for several years. This idea of finally giving sport a big enough stage. In the next few days Graz will be the absolute sports capital in Austria. I am glad that this idea is finally being implemented here in Graz. The restart of the sport takes place here. "
Mayor Siegfried Nagl was also happy about the starting shot and was already looking towards the finals in 2022: “Sport is a very important key in people's coexistence. We are therefore delighted that we can become Austria's sports capital again at the finals not only this year, but also in 2022. Then we will hopefully be able to celebrate again with thousands of athletes here on the main square. "
Sports Councilor Christopher Drexler emphasized the role model function of top-class sport: “Since my children have seen basketball live here in the Thunderdome, they have converted their soccer balls into basketballs at home. This shows the role model effect that top-class sport has on our youth. The Sport Austria Finals now offer this experience with 24 different sports associations. "
Sports Minister Werner Kogler was happy to be back home and he had good news about the next easing steps from the coronavirus pandemic with him: “The Sport Austria Finals here in my hometown Graz are a first step for sport at last out of this vicious pandemic. From July 1st everything will be possible again, but then we mustn't get careless, we still have to pay attention to the 3 Gs - vaccinated, tested or recovered - so that we don't get into a fourth wave in autumn. "
Then a video message from Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen was played. The surprise guest was the singer Andreas Gabalier, who made an emotional comeback on the stage after a two-year break and intoned his hit “Steirerland” on the piano. Afterwards he promised to watch one or the other event at the Sport Austria Finals live. "As a passionate hobby athlete, this is a very special concern for me," said the Volks Rock'n'Roller to the applause of the guests.
This also included: Olympic Champion Alexandra Meißnitzer, ASKÖ President Hermann Krist, Olympic Champion and ÖOC Sports Director Christoph Sieber, Sporthilfe Managing Director Gernot Uhlir, BMVIT State Secretary and ÖTV President Magnus Brunner, Sportunion General Secretary Stefan Grubhofer, Head of Sports Department Thomas Rajakovics, ÖCCV- President Julia Harrer, Racketlon Austria President Marcel Weigl, entrepreneur Roland Schmid, Sport Pass Austria co-founder Bernhard Hafenscher, Sport Austria managing director Gerd Bischofter and many more.
All information about the Sport Austria Finals powered by Intersport & Holding Graz can be found online at www.sportaustriafinals.at
