2014 Winter Olympics:
Two TUM students in Sochi
What is it like to take part in the Olympic Games? How was the atmosphere in Sochi?
Julia: Taking part in the Olympics is a real highlight of an athlete's life. The whole experience is absolutely amazing. There is a very special flair, because you realize that absolutely everybody is in high spirits.
Laura: I totally agree with Julia. The whole atmosphere in the Olympic Village is indescribable. What fascinated me the most was the meeting of so many different nations.
What was your personal highlight?
Laura: Definitely the feeling of standing at the starting point. The races I took part in were all scheduled during the night, so the slope was illuminated with floodlights. I could oversee the whole stadium from there – an indescribable feeling.
Julia: For me, it was the opening ceremony – but I'll also remember the flair of the Olympic Village and the togetherness all my life.
Laura: I went to Sochi only with my coach – so we were able to talk to a lot of other people and got to know athletes from many other countries. Also, it was quite exiting to be sitting at a table together with one's idols.
What does taking part in the Olympic Games mean for you personally and for your career?
Laura: It's definitely the icing on the cake, a career highlight. Next time – 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea – I'll be back for sure.
Julia: I totally agree.
How do you manage to balance your sports and your course of studies?
Julia: It's all a matter of good planning and discipline. I would not have managed without my fellow students who saved relevant notes and documents for me. I was able to catch up on most of the exams. My professors and fellow students were very understanding. If I'm away, they know that I'm busy with my training – not relaxing at home. My lecturers were willing to find arrangements and my study coordinator was a great help too.
Laura: Same for me. We have regular laboratory practicals. I had to postpone most of them, but fortunately that was never a problem. The TUM was really very helpful. Once, I was even able to catch up one of the courses together with the students of TUM-BWL. Still, it's not easy to balance a course of studies and high-perfomance sports.
You probably don't have a lot of free time. What do you do when you do find some spare time for yourself?
Julia: At the moment, my training is my job. I just have to do it, even if I don't feel like it from time to time – so that's not "leisure". Also, I love to spend time with my team mates. We're like a little family. If you don't have much time for yourself, you learn to appreciate the little moments. For example, I really enjoy walks with my dog Suki.
Laura: I agree with Julia. I always have to got to training too – although my sports are not exactly a job for me. I get along with my team mates very well. I'm in several training groups in Munich, so my training is also "leisure time" in a way. But I also enjoy spending time with friends – like just now, drinking coffee on the terrace with a friend.
High-performance sports or scientific research – where do you see yourself in the future?
Julia: Currently, I'm in the sports promotion group of the Bundeswehr in order to be financially secure. I don't want to become a coach later on, I would rather prefer the field of diagnostics. Not necessarily in competitive sports though. If one day I'm not able to play hockey on my current level any more, I'll quit and try something completely new. I guess I'd be too ambitious to play hockey merely as a hobby.
Laura: I'll definitely go into research. I'll probably need eight semesters for my Bachelor's degree. After that, I'd like to do a Master's program of Molecular Biotechnology at TUM.
Laura Grasemann (21) is a student of Molecular Biotechnology at the Wissenschaftszentrum Weihenstephan. She became a member of the German Freestyle Moguls National Team in 2006. In Sochi, Laura finished twelfth in the second qualifying run – and there were only four points missing for her to take part in the Top 20 finals.
Julia Zorn (24) is currently in the second semester of her Master's program of "Diagnostics and Training" at the TUM Department of Sport and Health Sciences. She has been playing forward for the German women's National Ice Hockey Team since 2009. In Sochi, the team was eliminated before the quarter-finals. After that, the hockey girls played three more matches and finished 7th.