Decathlete Leo Neugebauer is on course for gold at the World Championships in Budapest. ARD athletics expert Frank Busemann thinks about why the 23-year-old in the USA has become a real competition giant in giant strides and what that says about the German sports system.
“Leo the German” Neugebauer is to blame for the fact that Jürgen Hingsen was awoken with confusion a few weeks ago when he was told that his German record had been broken. It was the same for me, as I had to realize that from now on I’m four more points away from the German record. Still, this new national best was a side note at best. Nerds and those interested in athletics knew this, but the general public lacked the barrier-free platform to appropriate these reports.
Mixture between Goliath and the pseudo-giant Tur Tur
I met him for the first time last year. The students from Texas. I saw him on the horizon in Eugene and thought I saw something between Goliath and the make-believe Tur Tur. But the closer I got, the bigger it got. I stopped in front of him and I’ve probably had a dislocated cervical vertebra since then.
Big, imposing and authentically fresh, he stood in front of me. “Whoa, you’re a giant!” it escaped me. Not bad on paper at the age of 22, tenth at the World Championships in Eugene. A side note. Germany’s number one, Niklas Kaul, was better. And a few weeks later European champion. Neugebauer stayed in the USA.
Scholarship in Texas
Leo Neugebauer is studying on a scholarship in Texas, then one day a few years ago he got a call from the States and was asked if he wanted to come over. In the USA. To the epicenter of high-performance sport. If a talent is seen here at a school sports festival, then he now gets a certificate of participation. Like the second, fifth, eighth. It is bad for the development of the inferior that he sees that he is slower.
Achievement pays off – Achievement must pay off
In the US you have other options. If you are good, do a lot of competitions for the university, confirm your performance, then you will get a first-class degree, a lot of life experience and, above all, an athlete’s life that has it all. If you don’t survive this bone mill with all its stakes, then you can go. Sometimes cruel. A hard everyday life. But performance is worth it. Achievement must be worthwhile.
Universities around the world are looking for young, good athletes who are willing to perform well in the service of the university. In business, this is probably called field service and cold calling. And that’s a first clue. Sports is business. On many levels. In the USA, Leo and his fellow students are given a plan on how to manage their everyday life. From morning to night. From eating to dressing. Training and studies are coordinated and care is not neglected.
$200,000,000 sports budget?
Texas University’s sports budget is said to be over $200,000,000. In the year. So I can’t believe that. Where is all that coal going to come from? Who pays for a bit of exercise? And this is the problem. Sport is a nice-to-have for us. There’s the business. Sport is healthy. Movement is important. There is the business and a huge economic factor. With us, sport takes place in clubs that charge eight euros a month. Eight! Not 80 or 800, no, eight. Maybe even ten or twelve.
“Sport is a nice-to-have for us. In the USA, it’s business.”
For this purpose, children and young people who are willing can train five times a week. Do competitions and get a Santa Claus bag at the end of the year. Jacuzzi and massage is not included for eight euros. It doesn’t have to be, because sport isn’t that important. Okay, football does. If your favorite club wins, the weekend is saved. The identification with his club works here. But in the States it’s also the university. There are thousands of spectators at the college championships. The highlight of the schedule.
Sport must have a value
With us, the parents would be there when the children are lucky, and the trainers when they don’t have to work in their main job. Coaching is a respected profession on the other side of the Atlantic, often a hobby here. How is that supposed to work? Sport has value, it must have value. The structures of the Americans are different, that’s clear. I admire everyone here in Germany who is involved in sport, who lives for it and puts their energy into it! It’s necessary, it’s so incredibly much work.
Nevertheless, only the really crazy people with conviction who love sport as such, go to the sports field every day and instruct strange children to get the best out of themselves.
We have different structures, a different understanding
But how do we ensure that the sport, the trainers, the athletes get exactly what their work appreciates and they can develop? We have different structures here, a different understanding, a different identification. It’s difficult, but it explains why athletes like Leo Neugebauer go to the USA and there, in giant strides, become real giants.