Deutsche Sporthilfe is one of the most important supporters of the German Olympic team for Beijing. Of the 149 athletes, 123 receive funding and 24 have received support in the past. But if you look at the funding amount and period, the numbers seem small compared to other sports.
The Olympic participants have received 5.2 million euros in their careers to date. There are also athletes such as ice skater Claudia Pechstein or the doubles lugers Tobias Wendl and Tobias Arlt, some of whom have been supporting Sporthilfe for over 20 years. Pechstein has a total of 23.
Average Support: Seven years, three months
On average, the athletes were supported by Sporthilfe for seven years and three months before they started in Beijing, the DSH announced. The 5.2 million that have been invested in the current Olympic team, as stated by Sporthilfe, are a sum over decades.
For comparison: Around five million euros – that’s what professionals like Alphonso Davies from FC Bayern or Borussia Dortmund’s Thorgan Hazard earn in the Bundesliga – per year. The top stars of the top clubs easily get double or triple that.
The salary also comes into play for Olympic participants, albeit in different dimensions than for footballers. For example, Pechstein and Arlt are with the Federal Police, Wendl is a sports soldier. But that alone is usually not enough to cover the complex World Cup and training operations with countless trips.
Athletes can’t focus on the Olympics
A study conducted after the Summer Olympics in Tokyo underlined that it is often not enough to be successful in professional sport. Around 35 percent of the 1,122 athletes surveyed stated that their income did not allow them to concentrate fully on the games. Even among the Olympic and Paralympic finalists, it was still 21 percent.
The promotion of the German Sports Aid, so just a drop in the bucket? The examples of Pechstein and Wendl/Arlt at least show that it is at least somewhat easier with long-term funding. The sports aid is the first point of contact.
“These numbers underline the important role of Deutsche Sporthilfe in supporting athletes”, says DSH chairman Thomas Berlemann: “Sporthilfe is often their first partner and then remains at their side in the long term – this is shown by the long funding period of eight and a half years on average.”
Two Olympic debuts in Beijing
Young talents are also included in a junior elite development program. Two of them are celebrating their Olympic debut in Beijing: Emma Aicher (alpine skiing) and bobsled pusher Erec Bruckert.
Sporthilfe recipients who once “Junior Athletes of the Year” was. Laura Nolte and Deborah Levi (bobsleigh), the bobsleigh pilots Francesco Friedrich and Johannes Lochner as well as the Nordic combined athlete Johannes Rydzek were encouraged early on – and paid back with medals and successes, not only at the Olympics.
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Status: 01/31/2022, 09:12