The German Association of modern pentathlon (DVMF) is in a deep crisis. The split at the top also affects athletes and the training staff. In addition, there are now massive allegations of abuse of power against the national coach men.
A national coach who threatens his colleagues, shouts athletes and, which degrades other trainers. They are serious allegations that are raised by numerous active people against the national coach Men Andrii Iefremenko.
A trainer describes to the sports show and Deutschlandfunk that Iefremenko verbally and physically intimidated her together with another coach at the shooting range in May 2023. Both men would have assumed their theft and verbally reduced them, for example with the words that she was only a caretaker and only responsible for the sauna. “I experienced this behavior as massively intimidating. I then locked myself in the office”writes the trainer concerned. After that, she suffered from sleep disorders and stomach pain.
Andrea Schültke, Sportschau, 04.09.2025 8:52 p.m.
Questionable tone
The trainer assures that this incident had taken place like this. The other people who accuse them of against Iefremenko also submit affidavit. About Kim Raisner. The former chief national coaches gave up this job last autumn. The behavior of Andrii Iefremenko was one of the reasons for her termination, she says.
She also certifies the Ukrainian a questionable tone: “He was very aggressive towards me, other coaches”says Raisner in an interview with the sports show. “He then tried to take off a little. But when he gets upset, he will become very, very loud and startled. We also found this towards athletes, some of which are also afraid of him.”
The athlete spokeswoman for the German Association of Modern Pentathlon, Rebecca Langrehr, confirms this. The Olympic participant of Paris does not train at Iefremenko, but claims to do it again and again. She describes how she perceives the behavior of the national coach: “He sometimes gestures. He comes very close that the situation can happen to you. So I felt threatened with him.”
Ieefremenko does not comment on the allegations
Despite multiple inquiries, Iefremenko does not comment on the allegations. Also not for accusations that he had repeatedly insulted athletes. Several trainers also tell us that they have already felt threatened in certain situations by the choice of words in Iefremenkos.
“You idiot or that’s all the shit you do, you only do bullshit, you should do it as I say it and you can’t do anything here”quotes Uwe Zimmer, coach at the state base Potsdam, the inappropriate choice of words of the national coach. “What he uses very often is ‘bullshit’. He also used it a few times towards me, I have worshiped it. But yes, he works with such things.”
Sports psychologist speaks of “Border violating Behavior “
According to the sports psychologist Jeannine Ohlert, the situations described are Ohlert “Definitely border -violating behaviors”. Ohlert researches physical and psychological violence in sports at the Cologne Sport University and the University Hospital Ulm: “And of course we always look from the person who is affected. So when I feel pushed into the corner and feel under pressure, then that’s my point of view and it’s okay.”
The sports psychologist Jeannine Ohlert
The former chief national coach Raisner speaks to the sports show and Deutschlandfunk of one “Culture of fear” and “Dictatorial features”that Iefremenko showed the day. Cooperation with him was therefore almost impossible. “We didn’t work together in a team”says Raisner. “For example, he said that these athletes only train with him. When I spoke to the athletes, I had to listen to: ‘Don’t talk to my athletes’. “
As chief national coach, she was actually authorized to manage the other national coach. But Andrii Iefremenko obviously just got over it. For example, he refused to take their intermediate times for the later evaluation with the athletes, said Raisner.
Opposition “is mercilessly bitten away”
Trainer Uwe Zimmer reports that athletes within the German team were treated differently by national coach Iefremenko. “So only those for him are, they are looked after and encouraged”says Zimmer. “Those who are on the other hand are mercilessly bitten away.”
Kim Raisner also claims who criticized national coach Iefremenko had felt that. As an example, she mentions the two active spokesman Rebecca Langrehr and Patrick Dogue, both multiple Olympic participants. Their commitment to all athletes was supposedly taken very personally by the national coach. “And now both are no longer in the squad”says Raisner. For both, this also means that in the Bundeswehr sports funding group.
An assessment that Dogue also confirms. As an active representative, it is his task to address the association’s problems of the athletes who come to him: “As I commented on the association, there was always a problem somewhere. So people wanted to get rid of me.”
Athlete spokesman Patrick Dogue
Disregarding the sauna plan and inappropriate clothing
The opposition to Iefremenko comes from the Olympic bases of Potsdam and Berlin. The national coach also works at the state performance center in Berlin. There are also complaints about his behavior: Iefremenko is said to have announced athletes unannounced and without being knocked on. When using saunas, he did not stick to the given plan and used it in times that were actually reserved for female team members. The behavior has not changed even after multiple indications.
On the other hand, Iefremenko only came out of the locker room with a tight towel. At that time, a trainer would have given students from 9th and 10th grade fencing training in the fencing hall. The national coach only interfered with the tight towel. Iefremenko also does not comment on these allegations on request.
Violation of the code of honor
The acts described, you should have taken place in this way, is a violation of the code of honor, which all national coaches have to sign, and also a violation of the rules of conduct of the association. “We are not in criminal law where something has to be proven”says sports psychologist Ohlert. But also non -accepted behaviors below the criminal law threshold would have to be punished: “The moment it is properly documented where there are witnesses for the situations, for example, it is clear that it is cross -border behavior.”
This applies to the situations shown here. In some cases, people describe the same event independently of one another, for other incidents they call witnesses. This would make the German Association for modern pentathlon in a duty to pursue the allegations and to sanction Iefremenko if necessary.
For the association, the allegations are “cleaned clean”
Some of the allegations against Iefremenko are said to be known to both the former sports director Susanne Wiedemann and the current emergency board around the former Vice President Jan Veder. Wiedemann did not want to comment on request.
Veder does not specifically respond to individual allegations, but only points out that athlete spokesman Patrick Dogue as early as 2021 compared to the prevention officer at that time “Against a trainer” brought in. “The following request from the PSG representative of the DVMF for further substantiation of his allegations had not followed Mr. Dogue” “writes Veder.
In 2023, Dogue brought the allegations to the board again. Two responsible persons had the matter at the time “Cleaned up”so Veder. The athlete spokesman denies this. In an interview with Sportschau and Deutschlandfunk, he says that the survey was one -sided. People who had accused of national coach Iefremenko were not even questioned. The people from Iefremenkos training group, on the other hand. However, there were no allegations from there.
The split association wrestles with itself
The split association apparently struggles with it in this case. Both Veders and the other camp around the Associations Berlin and Brandenburg accuse each other to exploit the topic of power abuse for their respective purposes. “A classic situation”judges sports psychologist Ohlert, who is particularly passing, “If limits are not clearly defined”.
In the modern pentathlon, it looks like trainers and athletes suffer from structures against which they cannot do anything. Talents stopped or watched another sport watched the former chief national coach Kim Raisner.
Sports psychologist Jeannine Ohlert says that she often experiences such situations, especially in smaller associations: “As long as the association has no understanding, I don’t actually see an option. That is the problem.”