Belated celebration!

18th German Olympic BallnnTutima watchmakers donate prize for best sports coach

Top athletes deserve recognition—but so do the people behind their success. On March 25, at the annual German Olympic Ball in the Glass Hall of the New Exhibition Center in Leipzig, the country’s leading athletes mingled with around 1,700 guests at Germany’s second-largest sports charity gala. Among the evening’s highlights were the public vote for “Sportsman/Sportswoman of the Year” and the award for “Most Inte ationally Successful Coach 2010,” selected by the participating Olympic Centers. Three nominees were in contention, but the jury’s decision was clear: Be d Schröder, coach of the women’s soccer club 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam. With five championship titles, Schröder is considered the most successful coach in the history of Germany’s national women’s soccer league. At the ball, Willi Lausch, head of the Brandenburg Olympic Center, accepted the prize on Schröder’s behalf: a Tutima Military Aviation Chronograph valued at more than 3,000 euros. Schröder himself was preparing for another sporting highlight—the DFB Cup Final in Cologne between 1. FFC Frankfurt and 1. FFC Turbine Potsdam, which ended 2:1 for Frankfurt. The official presentation was later repeated in Potsdam, where ball organizer Axel Lobenstein personally handed the chronograph and trophy to Schröder. As an official partner of the Olympic Ball, Tutima is known for functional instrument watches. The North German company had already presented a prize to speed skater Jenny Wolf the previous year and was pleased to join the celebrations in Leipzig again. For Tutima, this event is also a home game: the traditional brand has its roots in Saxony and has been represented in its hometown of Glashütte again for the past three years.