Beijing (dpa) – The news of the first corona case of a German athlete in Beijing, a disruptive maneuver from home by the predecessor and a doubtful Olympic prognosis.
The new DOSB President Thomas Weikert had to prove himself as a crisis manager at the first press conference of Team D two days before the opening of the Winter Games in Beijing. “I hope that in the next few days sport will come to the fore,” said the head of the German Olympic Sports Confederation on Wednesday and wished: “If possible, to have as little criticism as possible and as many good sporting successes as possible .”
The sporting goals moved into the background after the news of the first German athlete who tested positive for the corona virus in Beijing. A second PCR test confirmed the suspicion of figure skater Nolan Seegert, who was supposed to compete with Minerva Hase in the pair skating competition. The 29-year-old is symptom-free and is in an isolation hotel, said the German Olympic Sports Confederation. The further process will now be accompanied in close exchange with the organizing committee.
Weikert: “We do our job here”
In addition to the corona concerns, Weikert was also concerned with the allegations made by his predecessor Alfons Hörmann shortly before the start of the Olympics. But these would not cause unrest in the German Olympic team, said Weikert. “They don’t disturb. Here in Beijing, everyone is concentrating on the sport at their place of competition,” he emphasized. “We’re doing our job here. That’s the most important thing.”
In view of the new attack by Hörmann, who he had replaced, that remained a pious wish in terms of sport policy. Weikert was again confronted with the accusation that he had played an active part in Hörmann’s disempowerment and that he had been involved in a campaign against the ex-president before he was elected to the top office of the DOSB on December 4th. “I have good reasons to assume that my successor was much earlier and also actively involved in the entire development,” Hörmann told the “Augsburger Allgemeine/Allgäuer Zeitung”.
Lawyer Weikert countered calmly: “I don’t know of any campaign.” After an anonymous letter from the staff with the accusation that there was a “culture of fear” in the DOSB headquarters, Hörmann announced his withdrawal – but saw himself as the victim of an intrigue.
Goal: To be among the first three nations
On Wednesday, this skirmish overshadowed the not entirely new expectations of boss Dirk Schimmelpfennig before the Beijing games. “In winter sports, our basic goal is to be among the top three nations,” he confirmed. “Our goal is to enter the corridor between the result of Sochi 2014 and Pyeongchang 2018.” In Russia, it was only enough for 6th place in the country ranking with 19 medals, in 2018 in South Korea 31 medals and second place. “If it ends up being in the top three, we’d be happy.”
According to Schimmelpfennig, the winter games in China’s capital are not comparable to previous ones due to the pandemic. Even the number of team members who arrived negative and had a great chance of staying virus-free in the bladder was “very gratifying,” he said, even before figure skater Seegert’s suspicion of corona was confirmed by the second PCR test.
“The mood is good”
Apart from the high risk of infection caused by the omicron variant, Schimmelpfennig was also able to report positive things from Beijing. “The competition venues and quarters are of the highest standard,” attested the DOSB’s head of competitive sports. “The mood is good too. They are looking forward to and concentrating on the competitions,” he said, looking at the athletes. “It’s a very good starting position.”
Weikert does not expect that the psychological pressure caused by the corona risk or the debate about freedom of expression and human rights could have an impact on performance. “It’s always like that when difficulties come in from the outside, you always stick together,” he said. “Because of the pandemic, it’s not a disaster to say: we don’t count medals and try to do as well as possible – without having a specific place in the nations’ ranking in mind.”
Despite the possible loss of medals and the associated prospect of not being among the top three nations in the national ranking, Weikert does not question Germany’s status in winter sports: “I think that we are one of the leading winter sports nations.”