Jörg Wenig for IAAF
7 September 2000 – Berlin - After leaving the public in doubt even on the day of the ISTAF, the final of the IAAF Golden League in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium on 1st September, the three Berlin athletic clubs that are in charge for Germany’s most prestigious athletics meeting have now selected the successor for Rudi Thiel. A few days after the event the chairmen of the traditional clubs (BSC, OSC, SCC) agreed that Christoph Kopp would succeed Rudi Thiel.
The 72-year-old Rudi Thiel had announced his resignation already at the end of 1999. Thiel had been the meeting director since 1968 and first started to work for the ISTAF in 1952. The former middle-distance runner became known as "Mister ISTAF". And indeed it was Rudi Thiel who transformed the event into a world class meeting. He himself had spoken of Christoph Kopp as his possible successor.
To quite a few people in the athletics world Christoph Kopp will be a familiar name to deal with. For many years he had been in charge of the elite field of the Berlin Marathon. He played a big part in the successful development of Germany’s biggest and best cast running event. Already in the eighties, but especially after the Berlin Wall came down in 1989 he put fields together with astonishing results - although quite often the budget for the elite athletes was a low one.
After a sad separation from the marathon in early 1998 Christoph Kopp became the president of the Berlin Athletic Federation in April 1999. The 52-year-old is well-respected within the German Athletics Federation (DLV) and is one of only very few persons in Germany that has the abilities and the knowledge to make sure that the ISTAF will continue with its present standard. Christoph Kopp, who has his own business (a company selling cables) in Berlin, lives with his family (one 8-year-old son) in the German capital.
While the former sprinter and coach Christoph Kopp will be responsible for the athletes side Michael John will continue to handle the financial affairs of the meeting, which has been quite a difficult task since he began his work as a manager in 1999, when ISTAF had debts of about one million DM (half a million US-Dollars). But this sum has now been reduced to less than half of that amount. So under the management of John and Kopp the ISTAF should have a very bright future.
