Franziska van Almsick
Swimming star is “very afraid of summer”
Franziska van Almsick warns of a worrying situation
© imago images / Stefan Schmidbauer
Swimming star Franziska van Almsick has warned of the consequences of the pool closures and is worried about the upcoming summer.
While individual sports such as jogging have grown enormously in popularity during the corona pandemic, swimming has largely fallen by the wayside due to closed baths. In an emotional one Interview with the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung” the former swimming superstar Franziska van Almsick (43) has now warned of “devastating” effects and also criticized politics.
“The element of water was totally underestimated in times of the pandemic,” said van Almsick. Politicians could have “reacted” differently, since many swimming pools are aware of the situation and have “developed good hygiene concepts”. Now she assumes that “we have a lost generation of children who do not even learn to swim”.
Worrying situation
Even before the corona pandemic, many children no longer had the opportunity to learn to swim because there was a lack of water. The situation has been exacerbated by the current pool closings. “How can you make up for that? If a five or six-year-old child wants to take a swimming course today, there are immensely long waiting lists,” says the 42-year-old worried.
Even if she “doesn’t want to over-dramatize it”, she is “very scared” at the thought of the approaching summer, because she believes that many would “totally underestimate” it at the moment.