One event, 20 years apart - but a world's difference for Swiss Athletics
In 2002, SRF Sport accompanied a handful of Swiss athletes to the European Athletics Championships in Munich. For six days, the national broadcaster was able to tell the tale of exactly one Swiss medal to its audience back home – that of middle-distance runner André Bucher, who finished second in the 800 meters. 20 years later, Swiss Athletics is floating in an entirely different stratosphere. This time, the national governing body sent a team of 45 men and women to the newly formed European Championships, which again took place in Munich. And they did not disappoint.
Switzerland's best track and field athletes returned with an unprecedented haul of six medals and 14 top-8 finishes. A quantum leap, based on the commitment and support of a single sponsor in the early 2000’s. It was UBS, who together with Swiss Athletics, launched the UBS Kids Cup, a nationwide youth recruitment and development program, in the run-up to the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zurich. An initiative, that continues to pay dividends today.