Dieter Gruschwitz (1954-2022): “He was a colleague valued by all, a fine person and a friend for many of us.”
Image: dpa
Dieter Gruschwitz controlled the sports reporting “with sovereignty and composure”, ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey praised the long-time head of sports. Gruschwitz died at the age of 68.
Dhe former ZDF sports director Dieter Gruschwitz is dead. According to the public broadcaster, the journalist died on Sunday near Bad Tölz at the age of 68. “Dieter Gruschwitz has managed ZDF’s sports reporting for many years with sovereignty and composure,” said ZDF editor-in-chief Peter Frey in a statement on Monday, acknowledging the long-standing head of the main sports editorial team.
Gruschwitz stood “within and outside of the house for reliability and fairness in a period of upheaval in which the sports rights market and the perception of sport have changed rapidly,” Frey said. “He was a valued colleague, a fine person and a friend to many of us.”
Gruschwitz came to Sender Freies Berlin in 1979 after studying journalism, Slavic studies and English in Mainz. In 1996 he switched to ZDF. From 2005 to 2017 he was ZDF sports director. The former judoka was also the station’s team manager at several football world and European championships as well as at the Winter and Summer Olympics.
Gruschwitz has received several awards for his work. Among other things, he received the German Television Award in 2006 for the best coverage of the World Cup in Germany. At the 2006 World Cup, he hired Swiss referee Urs Meier and coach Jürgen Klopp, an expert duo that delighted TV viewers. He also received the German TV Award for broadcasting the 2009 World Championships in Athletics in Berlin.
