A few days before the start of the European Championships in Munich, single driver Oliver Zeidler criticized the German Rowing Association (DRV) and demanded comprehensive consequences.
“If you look at the results of the season in rowing, it’s a debacle. We’re worse than we’ve been in a long time. The downward spiral that started in 2010 is turning faster and faster.”said the 2019 world champion in an interview with the “Münchner Merkur”.
Zeidler is considered to be one of the few German contenders to win the rowing competitions from August 11th to 14th on the former Olympic course in Oberschleißheim. The 26-year-old from Ingolstadt believes that the dwindling medal haul at major events in recent years and the poor season record of the DRV fleet at the World Cups in Poznań and Lucerne require a rethink: “But we don’t have anyone in the German Rowing Association who has this idea about competitive sport. It’s time that responsibility was taken on. Something has to change.”
Zeidler: “You get nothing without effort”
To underpin his criticism, Zeidler referred to the development of the once successful German men’s quadruple sculls, which had completed the World Cup final in Lucerne in mid-July as penultimate in the B final. “And what do you do then? The trainer applies for two weeks’ vacation afterwards, and the sports director (Mario Woldt, editor’s note) approves it too. It’s legitimate for an employee to apply for vacation, but the one who does it ultimately approved, should be thrown out”he commented.
In addition, the insufficient sports funding is partly responsible for the misery. “We’re not professionals in Germany, but we have to compete against professionals. Society’s claim is always that we should win as many medals as possible. But then a corresponding rethinking has to take place. You don’t get anything without effort.”, Zeidler said. In addition, a better distribution of funds in rowing and a change in the base system could contribute to more professionalism: “We have to completely rethink and question everything.”