Notebook

Volleyball Worlds Tobacco Free
Thanks to support for the World Heath Organization’s (WHO) campaign for “Tobacco Free Sports” by German Volleyball Federation, DVV, and the International Volleyball Federation, FIVB, the Women’s World Volleyball Championship in Germany will be ‘smoke free in competition venues, including adjoining rooms.
“We finally want to carry out this initiative: not smoking is cool”, explained Federal German Minister of Health, Ulla Schmidt, during the presentation of the campaign in Berlin on August 22. Together with the drug representative of the Federal German Government, Marion Caspers-Merk, German national player Christin Guhr and DVV President Werner von Moltke, the Federal Minister presented the TV spot “Tobacco Free Sports: digging – but smoke-free please“. FIVB contributed to the production costs for the TV trailer with the slogan “No future for cigarettes”.
 

Munster venue given the all clear by FIVB
All facilities for the preliminary Pool A venue, where host Ger-many will open their bid for the world Championship title, are ready for the opening matches, declared event director Franz Schmied on Thursday. The announcement, made at a meeting of FIVB officials and key members of the local organizing committee, confirmed that “Halle Munsterland” was set up according to FIVB regu-lations.
 

Almost 500 VIPs present during finals
Almost 500 VIPs, including ambassadors, ministers and other high authorities, have confirmed their presence at the final of the 2002 Women’s World Championship in Berlin.
On the eve of the championship, more than two years in planning, the event is proving immensely popular and tickets to the final at Berlin’s Max Schmeling Halle are completely sold out.
 

Women’s World Championship “Tobacco Free”
The Women’s World Championship will be a “Tobacco Free” event. Jurgen Lamberty executive director of the organizing committee VONOG, confirmed that in all eight cities, the Championship would be “Tobacco Free”. Smoking will not be allowed in the competition hall, VIP rooms and media area. No tobacco will be sold at the Volleyball venues and “Tobacco Free Sport” posters will be displayed. With this action, VONOG joins with the FIVB and the World Health Organization (WHO) to promote “Tobacco Free Sports” the campaign has been endorsed by the German Federal Minister for Health Ms. Ulla Schmidt.

Kathy Radzuweit in the running for “Germany’s most erotic athlete”
German player Kathy Radzuweit was recently nominated as one of the candidates for the most erotic athlete in the German magazine MAX. Together with sport stars like swimmer Franziska von Almsick and Formula I world champion Michael Schumacher, Radzuweit can receive votes from the readers of MAX. Meanwhile STERN, another glossy German Magazine on August 29, will publish an eight-page feature on the German team’s preparation for the World Championship.

Mercedes official car
The World Championship in Germany is now associated with one of Germany’s most prominent product
brands, providing a high level profile in all eight host cities. The German auto manufacturer Mercedes-Benz is the official car of the championship, transporting officials, teams, referees and VIP guests.

Special 4-page special in Major Television guide
World Championship partner TV Movie is running a 4-page special on the Women’s volleyball World Championship in its edition out August 28. In the article, Germany’s national coach Hee Wan Lee analyses the eight top teams, which he considers favorite for the title. He has named Russia as his top favorite but says China will be their strongest rival. He places the USA his third favorite, with Cuba, Italy, Korea, Brazil and Japan as medal chances. Hee Wan Lee refrained from predicting where his own team may finish in the rankings. According to him, the top stars will be Evgenia Artamonova (Russia), Danielle Scott (USA), Regla Torres (Cuba), Hao Yang (China), Elisa Togut (Italy), Karin, Min-Jung Ku (South Korea), Miyuki Takahashi (Japan) and of course Angelina Grün (Germany).