Anniversary celebration - 150 years of Swiss SATUS

The CSIT member association celebrated the big anniversary

The Swiss workers' sports association SATUS was founded 150 years ago, making it older than the modern Olympic Games founded by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, which were first held in Athens in 1896. The CSIT member association and CSIT founding member (in Ghent / Belgium 1913) celebrated this with a major sports festival and a gala event at the noble Köniz Castle near Bern. SATUS President Christian Vifian welcomed numerous guests and clubs from the SATUS family, as well as a number of political representatives and international guests, and personally hosted the sporting festivities.

The gala on Saturday evening was hosted by former Swiss radio sports presenter Bernhard Schär, who interviewed several guests of honor in front of the invited audience. First and foremost Jürg Stahl, the President of the Swiss Olympic Committee "Swissolympic", Tanja Bauer, the Mayor of Köniz and several former and current Swiss Olympic athletes, all of whom began their careers in SATUS and went on to celebrate great international success. The gala was accompanied by music from one of the best boogie-woogie pianists in Switzerland, Nico Brina, who is still in the Guinness Book of World Records for the most piano strokes in one minute. The event ended with a very impressive and spectacular performance by a rope skipping group.

The whole of Saturday was dedicated to sport. Starting in the morning, there were demonstrations of various sports from SATUS clubs and guest groups for the enjoyment of the many 100 festival participants. This included floor gymnastics as well as pole dancing and the very traditional Swiss Rhönrad, with which the current Swiss world champion Simon Rufener performed spectacular laps on the parcel. The well-known Swiss band “Magic Five” with Mario Capitano, one of Switzerland's best-known guitarists, provided musical entertainment during the breaks. The festival opened with Caribbean sounds from the steel band “Octopan”. The festival closed with a musical program by the Swiss cult band “Calimeros”.

The CSIT congratulates SATUS President Christian Vifian (CSIT Vice President Finance) and his team on this all-round successful event.

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