In Germany, there is a discussion about Olympic acquisition with increasing enthusiasm. The sporting reality, on the other hand, is sobering. German athletes have been gaining fewer and fewer medals at Olympics for years. In Paris 2024 it was very few since reunification. One reason: the Olympic base points that play an important role in looking after the top athletes complain about a lack of support from politics.
Julie Hölterhoff is one of the top judoka in Germany. She trains up to ten times a week. The Olympic base in Munich is an important point of contact.
“The Olympic base is totally crucial for every athlete, I would say. A lot of injuries are common in martial arts, especially in martial arts”says Hölterhoff in an interview with ARD radio research sport.
The advantages are obvious to you: “At the top level, the body is simply very stressed and nothing works without physiotherapy. I have a direct, very fast access to top orthopedic surgeons, I will be operated on very quickly. This is definitely essential.”
13 Olympic base points For around 4,000 athletes
There are 13 Olympic base points in Germany. There, a good 4,000 national cadres are generally supervised -as a rule free of charge.
Topics such as sports psychology are also important. But also nutritional advice, sports scientists, these are all things that simply belong to competitive sport.
This team is just needed to do the tasks. Of course, this team costs money. And the financial framework is limited.
Julie Hölterhoff – The everyday life of one Top athlete
Julie Hülterhoff notices this from everyday things: “I need tape every day in judo training. Folding, fingers, it just has to be tapped. And there we have often had bottlenecks here, where it was said, sorry, we don’t have any tape now.”
The reason is simple: there is a lack of money – at many Olympic base points. That is why IG Olympic Bundes support points was founded. One of the speakers is Daniel Müller, head of the Olympic base in North Rhine-Westphalia.
The role of Olympic base points in Germany
“Our task is to support the athletes in such a way that they can keep up with the top of the world at the top and top level” “says Müller, “And we have too few resources to achieve outstanding quantity and quality in the areas.”
Financial challenges and their effects
The criticism is aimed at the federal government. He pays around 25 million euros for the company and for the care of the athletes.
“The federal government is aware of the criticism of a possibly inadequate financial resources of the Olympic Bunds support points”said a spokesman for the Minister of State for Sports and Volunteering on ARD request.
Federal government: Sport with “very great importance”
“Sport in general and top -class sport in particular have a very great importance for the federal government. By promoting the bases, optimal framework conditions are to be created for the athletes for a successful competitive career”the spokesman for the Minister of State for Sports and Voluntary continued.
No statement could be made about the future amount of the benefits of the Olympic support points due to the ongoing budgetary work process.
What about other countries?
The international competition is now often better positioned than the German athletes, which is observation at IG Olympic Bundes support points. Especially when it comes to physiotherapists, doctors or psychologists.
The Wolfgang Maier, sports director in the German Ski Association (DSV): Other nations would have copied the model of the Olympic bases – and further developed. This did not happen in Germany. That is why top sport in this country is left behind in international comparison.
Criticism of the current Financing policy
“The centralization of science to bring flexibility to bring science directly to the athletes, we are gone for miles. Because for us the financial resources are always the first to prevent further development”says Maier.
The main problem from his point of view: “The ideas already exist, there are people, there are also the skills. But there is no financing to design it as the competition is doing abroad.”
The future of the Germans Olympic base points
According to the coalition agreement, a competitive structure of the Olympic support points is sought. Whether more money will actually be made available – decides in the upcoming negotiations on the federal budget.
Sports funding in Germany – the ARD research
The ARD Radio Research Sport has researched and analyzed sports promotion in Germany in a four -part series. “Transferring? School sport before collapse” was the start that the other parts deal with “too few coaches, too little volunteer – sports clubs at the limit”, “Young -talent -performance sports – the elite schools of sport are not enough” and “The money is missing from the Olympic support points.