A working group is supposed to deal with grievances at the gymnastics centers in Stuttgart and Mannheim. There will be no more results this year, says a group member – and gives reasons.
Those within the framework of the gymnastics scandal convened Working group to clarify denounced abuses at the Stuttgart and Mannheim bases will no longer deliver any results this year.
Work into the gymnastics scandal is underway
The public expectation that the commission could announce concrete findings by the end of 2025 is “highly unrealistic,” said its member Carmen Borggrefe at a meeting of the sports committee in the state parliament of Baden-Württemberg.
She is currently unable to give a forecast as to when the working group will be able to complete its task. The commission has begun conducting interviews with former and current athletes, coaches and officials at the bases, explained the professor from the University of Stuttgart. In total, she and two other scientists want to conduct more than 30 such interviews.
Processing takes time
Borggrefe explained that she was aware that “there is great interest in quickly addressing the grievances and initiating preventative measures,” she said. But this work takes time. The working group was convened by the Baden-Württemberg State Sports Association in the spring.
Since the end of last year, several former and active gymnasts have denounced grievances. There was talk of “systematic physical and mental abuse” in the Stuttgart Art Gymnastics Forum, and later the base in Mannheim was also criticized for harsh and authoritarian training methods.
