Monday, August 9th, 2021
Weak medal yield
Muted welcome party for the German team
The last participants of the German Olympic team are returning home. The welcome party will probably be rather subdued. Many a problem with the Summer Games is still having an effect. Demands for a “radical change” are spreading.
After saying goodbye to Tokyo and a welcome party at home, the German Olympians are starting to come to terms with the mixed summer games. The rest of the delegation of the German Olympic Sports Confederation returns with the weakest medal haul since reunification and is received at the Frankfurt Römer (3 p.m.). Shortly before the closing ceremony on Sunday evening in Japan’s capital, the German team had to cope with the horror of the second Corona case. Pentathlon sports director Susanne Wiedemann had tested positive and is not allowed to leave Japan for the time being.
In particular, the DOSB leaders are likely to arrive at Frankfurt Airport in the afternoon, quite pensive. The performance was “in the end a little weaker” than hoped, admitted mission chief Dirk Schimmelpfennig. 37 medals are four fewer than the previous negative stamp from Beijing 2008. DOSB President Alfons Hörmann announced a “clean and complete analysis”.
Swimming legend Michael Groß called for “a radical change, a clear structural reform” and campaigned for an independent organization only for competitive Olympic sport. “The tanker DOSB is much too slow to respond quickly and specifically to the needs of the individual sports. Translated again into the automotive world, this means: The DOSB is an obsolete model in competitive sports,” Groß told the portal “t-online”.
Troubled aftermath
For the time being, however, German sports are likely to be preoccupied with the final aftermath of the Tokyo Games. Cycling sports director Patrick Moster has been banned by the world association until the end of the year because of the racist derailment against two African athletes. The Association of German Cyclists has issued a warning to the functionary and is trying to limit the damage diplomatically.
The Olympics were also a major accident for the modern pentathletes. The riding drama about Annika Schleu and her refusing horse led to the Olympic exclusion of national trainer Kim Raisner, who allegedly punched the animal. Even the Federal Agriculture Minister Julia Klöckner intervened in the debate and described the events as “cruelty to animals”. She expects “that this sport, as it exists now, will be reconsidered.” The German association DVMF has already submitted reform proposals to the world association.
Despite all the unrest, the German team leaders were happy that the Olympics in Japan could still take place a year later – albeit with strong corona restrictions and without spectators. “In conclusion, it was right and important that these games were played in Tokyo,” said Schimmelpfennig.
.