“Rub my eyes in disbelief”
Anger about the uniform appearance of the record Olympian Pechstein
06/18/2023, 1:18 p.m
Claudia Pechstein is supposed to speak at a CDU event about sport and volunteering, but the German record Olympian also uses her appearance for a trip to internal security – with controversial examples. The politician, who is employed by the Federal Police, gives her lecture in uniform.
Speed skater Claudia Pechstein caused discussions at a CDU convention at the weekend with her appearance in police uniform. The SPD domestic politician Sebastian Fiedler wrote on Twitter: “A police officer in uniform swings party speeches? I’m rubbing my eyes in disbelief.” He demands transparency and follow-up from the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Fiedler used the hashtag “duty of neutrality” in his tweet. Bundestag Vice President Petra Pau wrote on Twitter: “I’ve been dealing with civil servants and disciplinary law for 25 years, not just in the interior committee, there’s also party financing and stuff – this process is beyond any tolerable possibility.”
Pechstein campaigned at the convention in Berlin on Saturday to strengthen club and school sports. She also called for the deportation of rejected asylum seekers. This ensures more security in everyday life. Being able to use public transport “without fearful looks” is one of the problems that particularly affects older people and women. Improvements there should be more important “than thinking about whether we should put a gender asterisk or whether a concert can still be called a German recital or whether it’s still allowed to order a gypsy schnitzel,” said Pechstein.
Federal police checks according to official law
A CDU spokeswoman said on Sunday that it was not clear before the speech that Pechstein would wear a federal police uniform. As far as she knows, the policewoman has permission to wear the uniform. The spokeswoman did not want to comment on Pechstein’s statements.
Schleswig-Holstein’s education minister and deputy party leader, Karin Prien, praised the “excellent CDU policy convention” on Twitter on Sunday. “C. Pechstein should contribute her perspective on sports and volunteering,” Prien wrote. A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior initially did not want to comment. Civil servants are subject to the duty of neutrality under civil servant law. The Federal Civil Servants Act states: “When engaging in political activities, civil servants must exercise moderation and restraint that result from their position in relation to the general public and from consideration for the duties of their office.” The federal police “found out about the process in question on Saturday afternoon and immediately initiated an administrative examination,” the authority announced.
“I don’t care about the envious people”
Pechstein won the gold medal five times at the Olympic Winter Games, and she also won two silver and two bronze medals. Among the German athletes, Pechstein’s eight Olympic participations are the undisputed record, only the Japanese Noriaki Kasai also took part in eight Winter Olympics. At the 2022 Games in Beijing, she was allowed to carry the German flag into the Olympic Stadium at the opening ceremony together with bobsleigh pilot Francesco Friedrich. Despite her now 51 years, Pechstein is still one of the best speed skaters nationally, but international medals have long since fallen out of reach for her.
“The fact that I can no longer run for medals,” said Pechstein, who celebrated her Olympic debut in 1992 in the French Alpine town of Albertville, already 2020 RTL / ntv, “is not bad at all, and it has never been. If you be If you do your best, everything is fine, and if others are better, then that’s the way it is. You can’t subscribe to victories, and it’s good that that doesn’t work in sport.” She doesn’t even rule out a start at the Olympic Winter Games in Milan and Cortina d’Ampezzo – it would be her ninth. “But in 2026 I’ll be three years older again – and I won’t get any faster, at most more stamina,” said record Olympian Pechstein: “That’s why it doesn’t make sense to plan so far in advance. But you should never say never.” Nationally, Pechstein is still hardly vulnerable to sport on their parade routes. “I don’t give a damn about the envious people who say, ‘She has to resign long ago’. I’m the only one who decides that,” said Pechstein. When it will be so far, she leaves open.
Things are not going so well in her political career: the winter athlete ran for the CDU in Berlin in the federal elections in 2021, but she was only able to get 13.5 percent of the votes in the Berlin constituency of Treptow-Köpenick – a good 5 percent less than in the Federal election 2017.