Clear criticism
“Pure”: IOC boss shoots against federal youth games
01.03.2025 – 07:47 a.m.Reading time: 2 min.
A reform of the federal youth games should promote the fun of sport in children. But not everyone likes the way the reform.
In Germany’s primary schools, fun and motivation will be in the foreground in the federal youth games. Thomas Bach keeps little of it. The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) warns of the consequences of this development.
“The fact that the competition in primary schools has now been abolished is miserable pure. It contradicts everything that sport and society stand for,” said the 71-year-old of the “picture”. The background is the reform of the federal youth games. In primary school age, the mandatory competition is now abolished with given rules of the international associations and replaced by the competition in which the schools can now make their sports program more independent.
For Bach, who ends in June after almost twelve years as IOC president, this is a questionable signal. “A society lives at the end of performance. If you are already stalling effort and performance in sports, then you don’t have to be surprised about the condition of this country,” said the Lower Franconian native, who became an Olympic champion in foil fencing in 1976.
The debate about top German sport has been going on for years – not least because of the low medal yield at the Olympic Games in Paris 2024. In addition, the German Olympic Sports Association (DOSB) has been trying to bring summer games to Germany for a long time, but repeatedly failed due to resistance among the population.
Bach sees a fundamental problem in this: “In Germany we finally have to get excited about something positive again. Then I really want and strive for. And not always just doubts what could go wrong,” he said. He emphasized that he was saying this as a German citizen and not as IOC president. A social commitment to performance has been lost over the years – and urgently need to be strengthened again.