Summer Events 2023

Ruhr Games 2023 - the largest international sports and cultural festival for youths

With 18 sports and 5,200 athletes, the RUHR GAMES 23, which took place this year from 8 to 11 June in the Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord, are considered the largest youth sports festival in Europe. The programme offers an exciting mix of classic sports like athletics and handball as well as modern, urban sports like climbing and BMX. Numerous Olympic hopefuls, reigning German and European champions take part in the competitions.

Marie Wirth (Manager Operations at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games) was in charge of the external venues in Duisburg (outside the Landschaftspark Duisburg Nord) for the sports table tennis, basketball, football meets culture, archery and volleyball at the RUHR GAMES 23. She was responsible for ensuring good cooperation between the sports associations, the venue operator and the various service providers and partners of the event.

"During the set-up and event period, I noticed again and again that clear, friendly and proactive communication is the key to success. In all venues, the main logistical tasks were in the area of delivery and pick-up. Here I realised that a good integration of all departments, associations and service providers is necessary in order to synchronise deliveries and pick-ups and thus avoid multiple visits to the venues. In addition, a central warehouse that can also be accessed by cars and trucks during the event is essential. All in all, this multi-sport event was a valuable experience, because the areas can be expanded to Rhine-Ruhr 2025", Marie concludes.

Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023 – the world's largest inclusive sporting event for the first time in Germany

26 sports, 176 delegations, 6,500 athletes, 18,000 volunteers from 126 countries, 9,000 family members, 1,800 media representatives and more than 330,000 visitors – these were the Special Olympics World Games Berlin 2023, the world's largest inclusive multi-sport event for athletes with intellectual disabilities, which took place in the capital city of Berlin from 17 to 25 June.

Over two weeks, Maksim Berdnikov (Media Operations Manager at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games) was able to support the Special Olympics World Games in Berlin as Main Media Centre Manager. The Main Media Centre (MMC) was set up in the halls of Messe Berlin. This is a central location for media professionals where numerous workstations are set up and all information about the event can be obtained. "The task of the Media Operations Team is to offer all attending press representatives the best conditions for timely and exciting coverage", explains Maksim. The duties of the MMC team, which consists of dedicated volunteers, include issuing accreditation passes, handing out photo bibs and parking permits, welcoming press representatives and providing information.

"Where to shoot videos and take photos, where to find start and result lists, where to store items during the competitions – all these questions need to be answered as quickly as possible and in detail to avoid confusion and to ensure that attractive content is created in time. In addition, there are many organisational tasks required to run the MMC – be it cleaning the press room, delivering snacks and drinks, scheduling volunteer shifts, etc. In this dynamic environment, it is very important to keep track of all activities and support team members. It's a lot of joy to see how the whole big system works that has been developed by the core team over the months."

"Teamwork, communication skills, stress resistance, patience and trustworthiness are the qualities you need to bring to make your job as Venue Media Manager successful in this dynamic field," Maksim elaborates. "I would like to thank my colleagues from Berlin 2023 for the very good cooperation and for all the information and experience I was able to take away for the FISU Games in 2025".

The Finals 2023 Rhine-Ruhr – North Rhine-Westphalia is the heart of sport

Düsseldorf, Duisburg, Kassel and Berlin hosted a top-class multi-sport event from 6 to 9 July. In 18 sports, including many young disciplines such as breakdancing, BMX or climbing, Germany's top athletes were able to present themselves from their best side. All in all, the competitions of the Finals 2023 Rhine-Ruhr thrilled more than 210,000 spectators at and in the sports venues as well as on the routes.

Benjamin Sahel (Team Lead Sports at the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 FISU Games) had the opportunity to get an insight into the sports of archery, rhythmic gymnastics, artistic gymnastics and 3x3 basketball during the Finals in Düsseldorf. "Especially the events in the PSD BANK DOME were very exciting," says Benjamin. "Seeing how the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) runs its competitions and how different elements, such as the medal ceremonies or the presentation of the athletes, were staged, helped to develop a clearer concept for us. The DTB did a really great job in this regard."

At the end of July, members of the Rhine-Ruhr 2025 team will fly to the 31st FISU World University Games in Chengdu, China, to take part in the so-called Observer Programme and thus gain even better insights into the event, which they themselves will be staging in five cities in the Rhine-Ruhr region in 2025.