Always new cases of physical and psychological violence have anchored the problem in the awareness of German sport. Now there is a first serious attempt to coordinate across Europe.
At Cristina Almeida, there is something like a spirit of optimism in the conference room of a hotel at Brussels Airport. In her homeland Portugal, she says, when it comes to violence in sports, you move to “Ground Zero Level”. But now “the problem has arrived at European level, in cooperation with many, on a solid basis”.
Almeida is responsible for the wide field of interpersonal violence in sport in the national Olympic committee. In Brussels, she met more than two dozen experts in this area from all over Europe this week. The group is now making the first serious attempt to tackle the problem at continental level.
Topic “Fill with life”
The aim of creating a Europe -wide unit framework against violence in sport is now working next to the European Olympic Committee (EOC), which is heading the project, also 20 national Olympic committees, including the German Olympic Sports Association, and the world associations from biathlon ( Ibu) and ice hockey (iihf). The project funded by the European Union with 400,000 euros is initially created until 2027. Title: “Safe Harbor”, safe harbor.
The difficult topic is to be “filled with life,” says Lucie Rothauer, prevention manager in the independent integrity department of the international biathlon union. It is about acceptance and awareness of changing the climate in international sport. “Today, young athletes in particular look closely and see what you are not allowed to do. Unfortunately, they often don’t dare to address the problems,” says Rothauer. Her Portuguese colleague Almeida reported in Brussels about a study that shows that about eight out of ten Portuguese athletes were affected by violence at least once.
Understand that “times change”
In Germany, there have been shocking cases in swimming in recent years tennis Or finally again enormously increased the pressure to act again in gymnastics. The result is the “Safe Sport Code”, a rules against interpersonal violence in German sport, ratified at the general meeting of the DOSB last December. An independent “Center for Safe Sport” is being planned.
Some European nations, which also became clear at the opening event of “Safe Harbor” in Brussels, are only at the beginning of a sensitization phase. One must first understand that “times change and that what some have experienced during their career should no longer be considered normal nowadays,” says Maja Poljak. The former volleyball player takes care of the topic in Croatia’s NOK.
Also pioneers still do Basic work
Even in Norway, which is considered a pioneer in the fight against violence in sport, the basic work is far from over. “Clubs are led by volunteers, and of course you cannot expect the knowledge necessary everywhere. That is why an essential part of our tasks is to pass this information on to the people and clubs,” explains Julie Karima Berg, Head of the Department ” Ethics and Safe Sport “in NOK Norwegian.
The joint project is now intended to ensure that the structures in the responsible bodies are also adapting in the European countries through knowledge transfer, before working on a European framework agreement. After all, fitting steps for the individual countries should be formulated in order to get better one of the most pressing problems in sport. The group is two and a half years for these stages.
“Safe Harbor”, all the participants in Brussels agreed, was only a first, small step. From when and above all how much the shared protective measures in the individual countries efficiently increase the ability to act as an ability to act is open.