Standing ovation for Horst Milde at AIMS Congress

Photo: Nick Gammon
© 2024

Horst Milde — the coordinator of the AIMS Marathon Museum “Marathoneum” in Berlin paid tribute to Gerd Steins, President of the Berlin Forum for Sports History, who has been researching the history and development of running for decades.

AIMS is the only sports organization that researches its own history in this way. Gerd Steins (a former teacher) has documented this in the MARATHONEUM Documents through decades of unpaid work—eight issues over ten years. MARATHONEUM Document No. 8 is available in print as a 12-page issue.

“AIMS is celebrating two important anniversaries this year: the 130th anniversary of the Olympic Games in Athens and the 90th anniversary of the Olympic Torch Relay from Olympia, Greece, to Berlin in 1936. In 2026, World Athletics awarded the Forum for Sports History the ‘World Athletics Heritage Plaque’ in recognition of its contributions to researching the history of running and track and field. Our mission is to remember and thank the pioneers who came before us and developed this movement—the organizers, race directors, volunteers, and runners—who have already been forgotten; that is our job.

“Starting in the summer of 2027, the Forum for Sports History will have a new digital home, which will then be ‘the place to go’ for anyone interested in running and track and field.”

The assembly gave Horst Milde a standing ovation as he stepped down from the podium.