Monday, June 7th, 2021
Olympic champion in crisis
The enigmatic case of Christoph Harting
Another listless appearance, desolate form and “little private problems”: The world of the discus Olympic champion of 2016 is out of joint. He doesn’t want to explain himself. Even after an indisputable performance at the German championship in Braunschweig, he remains silent.
Christoph Harting strictly adheres to his vow of silence, makes a name for himself and lets talk about himself. The Olympic discus champion did not deviate from his media boycott at the German championships in Braunschweig. “Officially, I don’t say anything,” said the 31-year-old Berliner curtly and disappeared. Anyway, he had every reason to be subdued. Indisputable 57.29 meters were only enough for eighth place, which means that the Tokyo start has moved into a barely reachable distance for him.
“It will be difficult,” said Annett Stein, the head coach of the German Athletics Association. Harting exceeded the norm for the Summer Games in Japan 2019 with 66.01 meters by one centimeter. Until the registration deadline on June 29th, he would have to let the target fly further than Clemens Prüfer (67.41 meters / Potsdam) and David Wrobel (67.30 / Magdeburg). The distances are considered to be priority because they were achieved this year. In addition, the Wattenscheider Daniel Jasinski as the new German champion with a season best of 67.47 meters has the Olympic ticket firmly in his pocket.
“Private Problems”
“I think Christoph just had a bad day,” said the Olympic third party, who described the contact with the idiosyncratic rival as “so far in order”. For Clemens Prüfer, Champion of 2020, Harting “has become a bit more accessible in recent years”, but has remained a rather calm and different type, as he told the specialist magazine “Athletics”: “This may not be for everyone.”
The DLV is not happy about the appearance of the 2.07 meter long giant, who confirmed his reputation as a stimulus figure with his behavior in the title fights, but the association is also powerless. Harting has repeatedly made throwing attempts invalid by stepping out of the ring, even though one of them was more than 62 meters wide. “That was not without intention, there was a specification in his head behind it,” puzzled Stein and spoke of Harting’s currently difficult, private situation that was “not insignificant”. Regardless of this, attempts are being made to give him help “to get access to him, to take him with you” and to offer him support, she stressed. “I would wish that we only had model athletes, but we also have freedom of expression and do not want to re-educate anyone,” said Stein.
His trainer Torsten Lönnfors spoke to the sports information service about “small problems in the private sphere” that Harting “has to deal with”, maybe that’s why he was “mentally not quite on point”. In addition, Harting threw in Braunschweig with a kidney infection and was therefore “not in full possession of his strength”.
Big goals, crashing silence
The younger brother of Robert Harting, the 2012 Olympic champion, had set great goals. “The next stage goal is Tokyo. Gold. After Tokyo Paris 2024. Gold. After Paris Los Angeles 2028. Gold,” he announced, as well as wanting to throw over 80 meters. His best since the Rio victory stands at 68.37 meters.
It is not only because of such big sayings that the association is not unjust if Harting, the younger, remains the big silent one. “He does advertising, is omnipresent, even when he says nothing and throws. We are not unhappy if he does not express himself,” said DLV President Jürgen Kessing. “Then we have a lot less work to do with him afterwards to process things again. So it’s a good situation.”
Despite financial and other help, the Gold Coup in Rio in 2016 was followed by a sporting lean period for Christoph Harting, who is employed by the Federal Police. In 2017 he missed qualifying for the World Cup in London. After that, he failed in the qualification at the home European championships in 2018 in Berlin and at the 2019 World Cup in Doha. He has been publicly silent since the beginning of August 2019.
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