Saturday 30th October 2021
Olympic champion helps colleague
Before the brain surgery there is the dream wedding
Elena Krawzow is facing a serious, dangerous operation: the Paralympic winner has to have a tumor removed from her brain. She definitely wants to bring her planned wedding forward, but that turns out to be difficult. Until the Olympic champion takes care of it.
Paralympic winner Elena Krawzow can now get married before her serious brain surgery, as hoped. The 28-year-old will marry her friend and trainer Philipp Semechin on Monday. Because on Tuesday she has to go to Berlin Charité, where on Wednesday a benign but diffuse tumor in the left upper frontal lobe will be removed.
The wedding was originally planned for November 12th, but in view of the shock diagnosis of a brain tumor, everything now had to go very quickly. “Getting married before that would mean a lot to me,” said Krawzow. But it didn’t look good. Because the marriage certificate was still missing until Friday noon. This was applied for at the Berlin-Pankow registry office on October 5th, but it did not come. “I talk on the phone like crazy, but I can’t reach anyone,” said Krawzow.
She called friends and acquaintances, including ex-swimming star Britta Steffen, career advisor at the Berlin Olympic base. “I got on the phone straight away and was lucky. I got a very nice employee on the line who made everything clear,” said the double Olympic champion of “Bild” (Saturday). “I’m so happy for Elena that she can get married now.” Krawzow is overjoyed: “I am so incredibly grateful to Britta. She is my heroine and has not saved my ass for the first time.” The longed-for date is here.
Pankow’s district councilor responsible for civil services, Vollrad Kuhn, also heard about the case. “I immediately instructed the department head to get it started immediately,” he told “Bild”. “Usually that doesn’t happen. It’s very unfortunate and we apologize for the delay. I can’t say what it was in the end either,” said Kuhn.