“The Norm” (www.die-norm.de) is a German web documentary by filmmaker Guido Weihermüller and his team, who accompany some German top athletes from different sports like beach volleyball, track and field and of course swimming. German swimmers Steffen Deibler (World record holder in the 50 m butterfly (SC)), Jacob Heidtmann (German record holder in the 400 m IM (LC), fifth in the 400 m IM at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan) and youngster Maxine Wolters (gold medal in the 200 m IM at the Baku 2015 European Games) are part of this documentation.
The website describes their goals with this documentation: “Citius, Altius, Fortius – Faster, Higher, Stronger” is the Olympic motto of the modern era since 1894 and it brings to the point what is at stake in the biggest sporting event in the world: high performance. Every four years, suddenly minority sports – everything except football –are in the focus of sports coverage. Whoever triumphs, is the hero of a whole nation. But everything does not always run according to their plans for the athletes.”
Filmmaker Guido Weihermüller describes his intention with the film:”We want to make the path of athletes comprehensible and put the human-being in the extreme environment of the high performance sports in the center.”
One of the protagonists in the web documentation is Germany’s top swimmer Steffen Deibler. For the 2016 Olympic Games he must qualify like all swimmers through a first or second place finish at the German Championships which will be held in Berlin from 5-8 May 2016 while also undercutting standard times in prelims and in the final. If swimmers achieve this first qualification step then he or she will have to confirm the performance on a further competition which will be specified by DSV (German Swimming Federation). This qualification procedure also was chosen for the World Championships in Kazan and is, according to German National Head Coach Henning Lambertz, the result of experiences they made in the past and it should be the correct way to motivate the swimmers to keep their performance on a high level for a period of about 3 months from the German Championships until the season highlight like World Championships or Olympic Games.
In the new episode of “The norm”, Steffen Deibler travels to his home town Biberach to coach a group of children. Also his mother and father talk about Steffen, his first steps into the sport of swimming and their family life. The video has English subtitles.
Steffen Deibler already took part in the Olympic Games 2008 in Beijing and 2012 in London. His goal is to win an Olympic medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. In the first episode of his video documentation, which you can view here, he said: “To work every day on getting faster, gives my life at the moment a sense that it needs a lot of fine tuning to be ready at the right moment and to swim a good time. The Olympic Games are huge. I participated twice. All Olympic sports are preparing over four years prior to the Games. They will all meet in Rio to show their best performances. When I think about it, I get goose bumps, it’s so awesome.” Deibler is ready to put all in the preparation for Rio and hopes to build on his international successes. He is the current World Record holder in the 50 m butterfly (short course) in 21,80 seconds – he set this record at the 2009 Berlin World Cup. In Kazan, he didn’t compete in the 50 m butterfly – he placed 11th overall in the 100 m butterfly (which, in contrast to the 50 m, is an Olmypic distance) and so didn’t make the final. In the 400 m freestyle relay, he swam a very good 48,24 seconds (as the second swimmer in the relay) – but Germany failed to make the top eight relay final with an 11th place – but at least that means the direct qualification for Rio.
Steffen Deibler Quick Facts
- Date of Birth: 1987/07/10
- Place of birth: Biberach an der Riss
- Training location: Hamburg-Barmbek
- Distances: 50m / 100m butterfly, 50m / 100m freestyle
- Swim club: Hamburger Swimming Club from 1879 R.V.
- Height: 185 cm
- Weight: 80 kg
BIGGEST SUCCESSES
- A total of 41 titles at the German Championships
- 17 European Championship medals
- 8 World Cup title
- World record 50m butterfly short course (21,80 seconds, World Cup Berlin, 2009)
Nice video, thanks