The German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) apologized in a letter to the gymnasts “for the suffering caused” and invited them to participate in the process of coming to terms with the situation. Reactions range from “not interested” to “gratefully accept”.
The German Gymnastics Federation (DTB) has announced the massive accusations from a number of current and former top gymnasts to address serious grievances in German gymnastics. On January 6th, DTB board chairman Kalle Zinnkamm and Eva Reinschmidt, Safe Sport speaker at the DTB, sent a letter to those gymnasts who had gone public with their statements and posts. The letter, which is available to our editorial team, says: “We regret that you had to go through these experiences, which are in complete contradiction to our values and goals. As an association and also on behalf of organized gymnastics, we apologize to you and “To all the gymnasts affected for the suffering caused.”
The DTB is setting up an investigation to deal with the facts described, which will deal with both the misconduct of individual people and the grievances of the competitive sports system. The association would welcome it if the athletes were available for discussions as part of this investigation and if their perspectives and suggestions could be included in this process.
Tabea Alt: “Any other reaction would not have been justifiable”
The athletes’ reactions couldn’t be more opposite. Tabea Alt, 24-year-old former top gymnast from Ludwigsburg, who had to end her career in 2021 due to several long-term injuries, generally received the DTB’s letter positively in an interview with SWR. “I see the comments and the desire for people to listen to us now and approach us. (…) The DTB would like to talk to us to work through this. These are the right signals. It is also absolutely necessary, any other Reaction would not have been justifiable. So I accept it with gratitude and am excited to see what develops from it and what happens next.”
A few years ago, Alt wrote a detailed letter to her trainers, the then national coach Ulla Koch, the DTB President Alfons Hölzl, the team doctor and other responsible persons and pointed out grievances and suggested solutions and offered their own support. But she was ignored.
Now the 2017 World Cup bronze medalist is calling for a complete structural change in German gymnastics and refers to her neighbor Switzerland: “It needs a professional concept. Switzerland has a very good model. They had a similar situation there a few years ago. This concept was developed to protect underage athletes. I would also like something like this for Germany.” You need a legal organization that stands above the association. “Then incidents could be reported there and not at the base, where everything is swallowed up or not heard.” Such an organization must have the right to carry out investigations. It’s also about being able to report something if you see something problematic. “You don’t necessarily have to be affected yourself.”
Alt’s gymnastics colleague Janine Bergerfourth at the 2012 Olympics in London, can’t do much with the DTB’s letter. She is convinced that the apology was only made “due to public pressure”. The 28-year-old gymnast from SSV Ulm had too many negative experiences with coaches and officials during her sporting career. She told SWR: “I often had conversations with those responsible and reported back grievances. When things got difficult and couldn’t go any further, I told my parents something. They also had numerous conversations. In the end it didn’t help.”
Berger is “no longer interested” in an internal, trusting conversation with the DTB. These conversations had been going on for years. She is only willing to participate in the creation of a new concept “if someone external” is involved. “Only when they tell me that we have someone external who is not associated with the association will I be willing to work. But in my opinion this willingness is not there at all.”
The next few weeks and months will show how willing the association really is to reform – and whether the gymnasts’ words will be heard this time and have a positive impact.
