Coming in the wake of some less-than-sparkling performances at major international events, Formula One driver Michael Schumacher emerged on the weekend as one of the great sporting stars following his sixth F1 world title. This was coupled with the German women’s football team’s weekend win of the women’s World Cup.

Rainer Schuettler

"It's pretty tough coming after (Boris) Becker, (Michael) Stich and (Steffi) Graf," said the 27- year-old Schuettler, who saw off a challenge from Frenchman Arnaud Clement to win the Lyon Open after emerging victorious in Tokyo a week ago. He now has four career ATP titles.

"Tommy Haas got to second in the world before he was injured, Nicolas Kiefer was fourth, and now I'm sixth," said Schuettler. "So you can't say, like some people at home, that German tennis is dead," he added.

The spate of sporting achievements follows rather lacklustre performances at the recent world sporting events such as the international athletics meeting and criticism of the way Germany’s national football team has gone about its business.

With football Germany’s number sport, the success of the national team’s campaign for a place in the Euro 2004 was greeted with considerable joy and even relief in the nation. So important is football in Germany, that studies have linked the national election results with the success of the national football team.

Rudi Voeller

Most notable were a 1-1 home draw against Lithuania and a 0-0 in Iceland, the latter prompting German coach Rudi Voeller to launch a tirade against the team's critics.

"Germany has qualified. And the game was a lot of fun as well," said the Bild am Sonntag Sunday paper.

Bayern Munich player Michael Ballack and captain Oliver Kahn said that the German team was not bad at all, especially given the fact that such key players as Dietmar Hamann, Sebastian Deisler and Jens Nowotny will have returned from injury by the time of the Portugal finals next year.

"We have many, many good players and a certain quality," said Kahn.

As a result, there is widespread optimism in the team that Germany will make the shameful winless exit in 2000 forgotten at next year's finals in Portugal.

But a large amount of enthusiasm was also saved for Schumacher following his success in scoring a sixth F1 title.

"Eternal Schumi. Michael becomes immortal in F1 with his sixth title," screamed the front page headline of one newspaper.

Bild had a poster of Schumacher in its Monday edition, with "Schumi, the greatest of all time" written on it.

With Schumacher driving for Ferrari, feelings were naturally also running high in Italy, the home of the car racing team. "Schumi even beats history," said La Repubblica.

Juts to top off the good sporting news, Germany won the women's World Cup on the weekend when they beat Sweden 2-1 through a golden goal scored eight minutes into extra time by Nia Kuenzer.

The team’s success is likely to represent a big boost to women’s football in Germany, which has already been growing in popularity in the country.

It was the second time in two years that the Germans had beaten Sweden on a golden goal, having done so two years ago in the final of the European Championships in Germany.

German coach Tina Theune-Meyer paid tribute to Sweden after the game. "Both sides could have easily won the game today. Sweden played very well and were the tough opponent that we thought they would be.

"But of course I am happy for my side. I think we deserved the victory as we played a fantastic tournament," she said.

As the ball hit the back of the net, most of the Swedes slumped to the ground and many started crying. Several of the German players then went to them in an attempt to console them.