Comeback announced for 2028
German athletics sinks to its lowest point
08/28/2023 10:59 am
The German team has hit rock bottom. The way out of the crisis will be long and rocky for Gina Lückenkemper and Co. But things should get better soon. However, there are doubts as to whether the master plan to return to the world class by 2028 can really work.
fourth Yet again. Like at the Olympics and the World Cup last year. But Julian Weber quickly shook off the frustration. He will now “simply train even harder, even better and be unbeatable next year,” said the European javelin champion with a wink. If only it were that easy. Less than a year before the Olympics in Paris, the crisis in German athletics has reached an absolute low point. Most of the athletes in the DLV team around captain Gina Lückenkemper could not keep up with the world’s best. But how might ways out of the crisis look like?
“We have to try harder again,” said the new sporting director Jörg Bügner. On the rocky road back to success, three points are crucial. “We need highly talented athletes who are at the peak of their ability. We need highly qualified coaches with a wealth of experience. And we need optimal conditions.”
Reforms were already initiated after the debacle in Eugene, when the German team won two more medals. But this is a long-term project, said Bügner, who also complained about the enormous “bureaucracy” in the German sports system, which was “unique in the world”. The 54-year-old is aware of the huge task and asks the fans for patience. Reforms “in such a complex system” need “time,” said Bügner, which of course he doesn’t have: “We are making deep cuts in the system that can only take effect after a certain amount of time.”
Five years to world class?
But with every failed championship, the pressure naturally increases. “There are no mental blocks,” said Bügner, not excluding personnel consequences: “We are not satisfied with the current situation.” The youngsters are always at the forefront of the youth team, celebrating great successes like most recently at the U20 European Championships in Jerusalem, when the German team was by far at the top of the medal table. But on the big stage like now in Budapest there is only sadness.
Decathlon shooting star Leo Neugebauer made it to the top at breakneck speed thanks to an athletic scholarship to the University of Texas, but the collegiate system isn’t for everyone. “A lot of people look at me, America, so cool, I have to go there, but there are so many examples where it didn’t work,” said the 23-year-old, whom they only call “Leo The German” in Austin.
Neugebauer, who finished fifth after leading the field at half-time, trains in Texas under conditions that are “almost better than for a professional.” But the “chance that everything fits perfectly” as with him is “very small. Everyone has their own way,” said Neugebauer: “For many in Germany, for some in America.” Speaking of America: German track and field athletes should be world class again by the 2028 Olympics, and Bügner is sticking to that despite the debacle in Budapest: “I’m not going to give up any goals now.”