The carpet inside is as red as the sky is blue outside, the shoes are black, mostly high-gloss.

And Franzi's dress bright green.

Or yellow?

Some observers type “highlighter lime”.

Franziska van Almsick, eternal swimming star, deputy chairwoman of the supervisory board of Deutsche Sporthilfe, welcomes the guests.

It's impossible to miss, but it never is.

Welcome to the 51st Sports Ball, the big family reunion of the Olympic movement, for the last time in Wiesbaden, for the first time in midsummer.

Achim Dreis

sports editor.

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"I'm scared," jokes Matthias Steiner, who used to weigh 150 kilos and now 105. But always and forever the Olympic weightlifting champion.

And a regular at the Sports Ball: "It's as bright as day".

Outside still the best weather at the entrance, when otherwise it was always pitch black.

Finally, the women no longer freeze on the way between the car door and the entrance portal.

For this, the men have to sweat in the procession of penguins.

Dresses "a little more airy"

July is a good time for winter sports enthusiasts to party.

Mariama Jamanka, Olympic bobsleigh champion from Pyeongchang, is here for the first time and is looking forward to it.

Otherwise she was always out and about in the ice canals of the sports world at ball time.

Maria Höfl-Riesch, Olympic ski champion from Vancouver and Sochi, was there more often - her career dates back a long time.

She is happy too – for all skiers, tobogganists and bobsledders.

And that the clothes "can be a little more airy".

The only concern for Franziska van Almsick, "is that I don't recognize some of them because they usually have so much on, wear a helmet and thick clothes."

More than 100 Olympic and Paralympic medal winners came to the "Rhein-Main Congress Center" to be celebrated.

They are the often unknown stars who depend on support in order to be able to practice their sport successfully.

The "Ball des Sports" offers a good basis for this.

It is considered Europe's most successful charity event for sport and as a social event.

1,500 guests from politics, business and society celebrate with us.

The proceeds for the Sporthilfe Foundation are estimated at almost one million euros.

Admission is 1200 euros for those who have a heart for the athletes and can afford it.

The show program in the hall is designed by skaters, BMX riders and parcours artists.

The streetfighters of yesteryear perform in the ballroom, jump around between the tables and feel honored to be supported by Sporthilfe - and thus "to be recognized as athletes", as they say.

The singers Zoe Wees and Michael Schulte create the midnight show.

But that shouldn't be the end of it for a long time.

When the big benefit sports party ends, it will be light outside again.