The German sprinter Gina Lückenkemper sharply criticized the public criticism of the German performance at the World Championships in Athletics in Eugene/Oregon.
“Speaking of weak flesh in the live stream. That was just one of the comments that you heard in part,” said the EM second in the “Sky” interview after her 100m race on Saturday in the Diamond League race in Chorzow, “and to be honest, I find that very disrespectful and impudent towards the athletes.”
“I didn’t think all this negativity that the athletes were facing,” said Lückenkemper, “I didn’t think it was okay. Because it sometimes sounded like the athletes hadn’t bothered.” If you put it in relation to where our athletes come from and what else they did and “how they have to work their ass off to compete against these full-time professionals, I think it’s better to take your hat off to the athletes than to… to badmouth them,” said the 25-year-old from SCC Berlin.
She definitely has the feeling that she “can initiate something” with her statements on German sports funding. After the World Cup, Lückenkemper explained: “If you’re already good, you’ll get good support. But as long as you’re on the way there, it’s difficult.”
This was followed by a clarifying conversation with national sprint coach Ronald Stein. This went positively. “My national coach is one of those people who really listens to me and with whom I can also talk constructively and discuss the whole thing and discuss views,” said Lückenkemper, who was third in Eugene with the sprint relay overall only two German medals in addition to the gold for long jumper Malaika Mihambo.