After allegations in the ARD documentary
DSV trainer announces termination without notice
10/16/2022 12:52 p.m
Lutz Buschkow has been one of the most prominent coaches of the German Swimming Association for many years. But after allegations in an ARD documentary, Buschkow came under pressure. First he is suspended, now he is apparently terminated without notice.
According to his own statements, the long-standing water jump national coach Lutz Buschkow has received a termination without notice from the German Swimming Association (DSV). “The DSV board terminated my employment contract on October 14th, 2022 without notice. I will take labor law action against this extraordinary termination without notice together with my lawyer,” explained Buschkow. The swimming association has not yet been reached for comment. Journalist Hajo Seppelt initially reported on the process via Twitter, citing an internal email.
The 65-year-old Buschkow was initially suspended in August in the course of the abuse affair about the former world-class jumper Jan Hempel. In an ARD documentary entitled “Abused – Sexualized Violence in German Swimming”, Hempel made the allegations of sexual abuse against his long-time coach Werner Langer, who died in 2001, public for the first time. Accordingly, Langer had passed from 1982 to 1996 at the Olympic silver medalist in Atlanta in 1996.
In the film, Hempel, now 51, accused DSV and Buschkow of having known about the allegations in 1997 but not having done anything decisive. At the time, Buschkow told the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” that he only found out about the allegations this August when the documentation was published. According to Hempel, Buschkow was said to have been informed about the incidents by the national coach at the time.
“I can’t confirm that,” Buschkow said in August. In 1997 he was the national youth coach and sighting at the federal base in Berlin. “I did some research for myself and what I can say is that we as DSV coaches at the German Championships in Berlin in 1997 were informed in an official conversation by Ulla Klinger that, due to personal differences, Frank Taubert had to leave Jan Hempel with immediate effect will train,” said Bushkov. “We weren’t told any more than that.”