German Embassy London – LONDON 2012 – Paralympics – Ambassador celebrates with German Paralympic Youth Camp

Ambassador Boomgaarden spent Tuesday evening together with the participants of the 6th German Paralympic Youth Camp. Amongst other high profile guests from politics, business and sport, the Ambassador enjoyed meeting and talking to the young people aged between 14 to 17.

Youth Camp participants are chosen not only for their sporting ethics and involvement in competitive sports but also for demonstrating exceptional social commitment.

The evening's programme gave the participants memorable insights into the disciplined world of today's Paralympians. Germany's Paralympic "grande dame" Marianne Buggenhagen, who has competed  in the Paralympic Games since 1992 and won silver in shot put just a few days ago (her 13th medal in her 6th Paralympics, 9 of them gold) was among the guests. She is an inspiration for the youngsters, most of whom are determined to compete in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Enlarge image (l-r): Deputy Head of the German Paralympic Youth Camp Martina Müller, Ambassador Boomgaarden, Prof Gudrun Doll-Tepper (German Olympic Sports Confederation), Norbert Fleischmann, Head of the German Paralympic Youth Camp (© German Embassy London) Representatives of the UN (Willi Lemke, Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace), IPC (Rita van Driel, International Paralympic Committee) and EPC (European Olympic Committee) showed their support for the Paralympic Youth Camp and expressed their hopes for the continuation of these crucial events for promoting Paralympic youth participation.

The youthful and open-minded spirit of the evening was further enhanced by musical contributions from the European Union Youth Orchestra as well as entertainment by the young people themselves, whose singing of the Beatles' "We love you" was a lovely homage to the Paralympic host city of London.

Source: © German Embassy London