Swiss athletes look to Munich and beyond
The Swiss athletic association has expressed its satisfaction with the past world championship season and set out its primary targets for next year's European championships in Munich.
André Bucher’s gold medal in the world championship 800 metres was the obvious highlight of the Swiss athletic year, but at Wednesday’s press conference the association insisted there was plenty of other performances to celebrate.
Bucher’s compatriots at the Edmonton games had all fulfilled their minimum targets, the association pointed out, while good results at the student games in Peking and Bucher’s bronze medal at the world indoor championships were held up as further examples.
“Our new selection process is slowly bearing fruit,” claimed association technical director Peter Schläpfer, adding that the season had been noticeably more successful than the 2000 Olympic season, when Switzerland’s athletes failed to win a single medal.
Munich targets
Setting out their stall for next year’s European Championships (August 6-11), the association said they hoped to travel to Munich with a team of around 20 athletes. An early target of one to two medals has been set.
The association also hopes to be represented by a wider variety of athletes, following the recent overemphasis on the pure running disciplines. “We want to put out athletes in every group of discipline, so long as they can fulfil the minimal qualifying limits,” Schläpfer insisted.
The technical director said he was also keen to see a number of young athletes breaking through the ranks as part of the association’s work towards the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Among the concrete steps being taken by the association towards their Olympic goal will be the two new ‘performance centres’ which are due to open next year in Bern and Zurich, and the reappointment of specialist endurance trainer Jean-Pierre Egger, former trainer of Swiss shot putt star Werner Günthör.
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