Newly-elected German Canoe Association President Dajana Pefestorff has expressed her desire to make the national governing body “more modern and dynamic” as she begins her tenure.
Pefestorff was unanimously elected as the new leader of the DKV at the end of last month following an historic election in Osnabrück, Germany.
She becomes the first woman to take the office of President in the history of the organisation.
Jens Perlwitz, who had led the DKV since 2021, made way for Pefestorff after announcing his retirement.
“Since then, I have had a lot more people come to me including Presidents of other regional federations,” said Pefestorff.
“It had an effect on me so I looked a bit closer at the federation and what needed to be done.
“What I found out was that we need to further develop the federation.
“We need to have much younger people in the top positions in order to be more modern and dynamic.”
Pefestorff has been the head of the Brandenburg State Canoe Association since 2019.
Under her leadership, the organisation has enjoyed great success.
Pefestorff said she was honoured to be the DKV’s first female President and hopes to make positive changes.
“When I took on the role at the Brandberg State Canoe Association, I was the only woman and the youngest President among the others at the time,” said Pefestorff.
“At the time I felt like a very young girl compared to all the others.
“Now a lot of the regional Presidents are even younger than me and there is another female President in Hamburg.
“This has all changed in the last four to five years and over time it really triggered me to take advantage of this opportunity.
“Sports people need to see women and young people in leadership roles in their federation and place those pictures within the whole canoe sport community within Germany.
“It is great to be visible as a female leader for others to draw the picture that I just described and give them a role model.
“I am hoping that the competencies that I have gained over the past two decades are things that I can bring and establish a modern federation for the whole German canoe sport community.”
Pefestorff joins the DKV with less than three months to go before the start of the Paris 2024 Olympics where Germany will hope to enjoy plenty of success.
“I strongly believe that we will fight for the medals, including gold of course, in the Canoe Sprint, Paracanoe and Canoe Slalom,” added Pefestorff.
“This year, the Olympics is obviously one of the main goals for every federation worldwide.
“We also want to increase participation.
“Over the past few years, our membership has grown to 129,000, so this is something I would like to continue.
“It doesn’t matter what age you are, where you come from and whether you have a disability.
“We want to be an inclusive sport.
“We are already setting good examples but we need to systematically develop more offers in a broader way in Germany so we can attract canoe sport to everyone.”
