Now that the Olympic Winter Games are drawing to a close, one of the core sports of the Summer Games is again in focus. The German gymnasts have found new coaches.
The commitment of Dutchman Gerben Wiersma as national coach of the women can be considered quite surprising. The 44-year-old Wiersma will succeed Ulla Koch this Tuesday (02/15/22), who retired after the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games after 16 years in office. Last November, Koch was vice-president for top-level Olympic sport in the presidium of the German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) chosen.
No misconduct by Wiersma in the Netherlands can be proven
Until last year, Wiersma coached the gymnasts of the Dutch association. He resigned from this office after allegations against him became loud: investigations against Wiersma had been started by the association because of physical and emotional abuse. However, no serious misconduct could be proven to Wiersma. the DTB explained:
“The Appeal Committee of the Dutch Institute for Sports Justice ruled in autumn 2021 that Wiersma, prior to his time as head coach in 2010/11, violated the federation’s disciplinary code in limited cases. (…). In view of the fact that it there were no serious violations, the facts were a long time ago, there have been no further allegations in the meantime, on the contrary Wiersma was one of the initiators of cultural change in Dutch gymnastics and behaved openly and self-critically and apologized, the appeals committee has, however, of a Penalty aside.”