Olympic Games in Paris: What the FC Bayern athletes can look forward to

Following on from the European Football Championship, the Olympic Games will be held from 26 July to 11 August in Paris. Over 10,000 athletes will compete in 32 sports, including, once again, several from FC Bayern. Olympic champion Melanie Behringer and gymnastics world champion Lukas Dauser know what they can look forward to.

Lukas Dauser will once again miss the first major Olympics extravaganza. When the opening ceremony takes place on the evening of 26 July - a parade of 160 boats on the Seine in the glow of the setting sun through the heart of Paris - the gymnast will be in the training centre. "It's a great shame, but when the first competition is scheduled for 11 o'clock the next day, it's not a good idea to stand around for four or five hours the night before," he says.

Lukas Dauser: Third time at the Olympics

Dauser doesn't know any different. Paris will be his third Olympic Games, and he was already unable to take part in the opening ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo in 2021. But no matter, the 30-year-old isn't heading to Paris to cruise along the Seine. As the reigning parallel bars world champion, he intends to compete for medals. Dauser comes from Glonn, a small town near Munich, and once spent four years representing FC Bayern at gymnastics until the FCB gymnastics department was disbanded at the beginning of 2014.

He now lives in Halle an der Saale and has been preparing intensively for the Olympics since mid-May. Ten training sessions, plus physiotherapy, regenerative sessions and mental training form part of his weekly programme. An illness set him back in April and he even had to cancel the European Championships. "But now I'm back on track for Paris."

Olympic Games: The pinnacle of a career

For athletes, taking part in the Olympic Games is the pinnacle of their career. This was already the case in ancient times. “The Olympics simply have a different status to a world championships,” says Dauser, “simply because the games only take place every four years.” Basically, athletes live their entire sporting lives for the Olympics: “We gymnasts think in cycles: the Olympics are in four years' time, and by then I want to have mastered this or that exercise. It simply takes years to master a routine or an element. You work on it from one Olympics to the next.”

For footballers, too, taking part in the Olympics is something very special. When Uli Hoeneß moved to FC Bayern in 1970, he turned down a professional contract in order to be able to take part in the 1972 Olympic Games. At that time, the only way to do so was as an amateur. The first Bayern Women's player to participate in the Olympics was Melanie Behringer. In 2008, she won bronze in Beijing, and then gold with the Germany Women in Rio de Janeiro in 2016. This medal "means the most to me", says the 38-year-old, who is now the U16s national coach.

A "perfect tournament" for Melanie Behringer

Behringer has fond memories of Rio de Janeiro 2016, and not just because of winning gold. There are also very personal reasons for this. She wasn't a first-choice player in the two previous major tournaments (2013 European Championship, 2015 World Cup), but in Rio she was undisputed as a leader and played in her favourite position in defensive midfield. "And then we won gold, and I was also the top scorer. It was simply a perfect tournament for me."

This year in Paris, the Germany Women are taking part again as one of three European women's football teams. In total, only 12 teams are competing in the tournament. By way of comparison, there were 32 teams at last year's World Cup. "Just experiencing the Olympics at all is something special," says Behringer.

And then there‘s that special Olympic spirit, this togetherness between athletes from the most diverse disciplines from all corners of the world. You only get that at the Olympics. Unfortunately, Behringer has only briefly been able to immerse himself in this unique atmosphere, as the footballers only stay in the Olympic village for the finals. Before that, they play their matches all over the country. "That's a bit of a shame," she says, "of course you'd like to be somewhere in the thick of it and experience more. But in the end, it's all about winning."

Lunch with Rafael Nadal

Dauser will get to experience much more of the special atmosphere. "Living in the Olympic village with so many other athletes, experiencing all the hustle and bustle, that's what makes the games special," he says. "Paris will be crazy.’ In the Olympic village, you constantly run into people, he says, in the German House, in common rooms, in the lift, in the canteen ... "I once had lunch with Rafael Nadal in Rio, that was a lot of fun."

Behringer might also go and watch a few events, and not just in women's football. Paris is not that far away from her home near Freiburg. She has high hopes for the Germany women's football team: "The players have known each other for years. And knowing that you might only take part in the Olympics once in your life as an athlete gives you an extra push." But above all, she hopes that all athletes "take the Olympic feeling home with them." It'll stay with you for the rest of your life.