By Nick Butler

Bernhard Schwank, speaking during the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February, will be German Chef de Mission for two major future events ©AFP/Getty ImagesApril 14 - Bernhard Schwank will be the Chef de Mission of the German teams at both the Nanjing 2014 Summer Youth Olympics and the inaugural European Games in Baku next year, it has been announced.


Schwank, sports director of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), is a long-standing senior official in German sports and was a former DOSB secretary general before moving to his current role in 2006. 

The 53-year-old was also Chef de Mission of the German team at Vancouver 2010, where the nation finished in an impressive second place on the medals table, before being present again at Sochi 2014 earlier this year.

But his best known role was as chief executive of Munich's bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics and Paralympics, a race which ended in a second place finish behind South Korean winners Pyeongchang. 

Bernhard Schwank, pictured alongside Munich 2018 chairman Katarina Witt, played a key role in the ultimately unsuccessful bid for the Olympics and Paralympics ©Bongarts/Getty ImagesBernhard Schwank, pictured alongside Munich 2018 chairman Katarina Witt, played a key role in the ultimately unsuccessful bid for the Olympics and Paralympics ©Bongarts/Getty Images




Schwank is also a member of the 15-strong Coordination Commission for Baku 2015 in a role which should provide extra insight for his Chef de Mission position.

After the German team won 44 medals, including 11 golds at London 2012, good enough for a sixth place finish on the medals table and third European nation behind Great Britain and Russia, a team of around 200 athletes will be seeking a similarly strong performance in Baku.

They will also be hoping to improve on their 12th place medals table finish at the inaugural Summer Youth Olympics in Singapore four years ago, where 70 young athletes competed across 20 sports and won 22 medals including four golden ones.

But at both events, Germany will also be hoping to erase the memories of Sochi 2014 where, despite leading the medals table in the early stages, they eventually slumped to sixth place amid the disappointment of biathlete Evi Sachenbacher-Stehle failing a drugs test. 

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