Raining medals at the World School Games

The smile is still on her face: after her gold medal in the 150-metre race at the U11 World School Games in Dubai Sports City on January 28, Daphne Koutra is still very happy a week later. The reception at the DISD and medal presentation on the canteen stage was almost even better than her winning sprint. "That was a really proud moment for me. My friends were there and cheered for me," says Daphne with emotion. The secret of her success? "I noticed that the other runners were behind me and then I just concentrated on the finish line," explains the eleven-year-old. Daphne certainly felt the cheers of her teammates and her coach Uta Zeug-Lummel on the home straight. "It was so great to experience the support and hear the cheers," she says. The sixth-grader has already competed in swimming tournaments in her home country of Greece, so she was already used to the excitement of competition. However, the World School Games were her first athletics competition. "I knew that I was fast. But the fact that I would win gold was a surprise."

Principal Michael Lummel is also proud: "That was a real sensation! The whole team did really well." Daphne and her teammates Katharina Nikolakakos, Amir Hamdan and Chris Alphonse won silver in the 4x100 meter mixed relay. Daphne completed the set of medals with bronze in the 75 meters. Katharina Nikolakakos also won bronze in the 400 meters.

On Thursday, February 23, the athletics team will be heading to the U13 World School Games in Dubai Sports City. Our golden girl Daphne will be up against competitors up to two years older. "I will do my best and I am particularly pleased that my older friends can also take part," she says.

On Friday, Leopold Suffel sensationally won bronze in the 50-meter breaststroke at the parallel World School Games in swimming. A great success for the DISD swimming team and coach Nina Seidel.