Ullrich’s waiver of the NADA supervisory board mandateat is obviously not enough for many factions in the sports committee of the Bundestag. “That takes some air out of the discussion,” says SPD party member Sabine Posch. “But the discussion about Frank Ullrich’s doping past doesn’t end there.”
Only a few days ago, Frank Ullrich had assured him absolutely unequivocally that he “had not taken any doping drugs himself, nor instructed them to take them, or administered any to athletes himself, nor had he monitored or checked their intake.” A statement without restriction, not even the word “knowingly” occurs in it. That obviously triggers Fritz Güntzler, the chairman of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group in the sports committee: “If someone makes such clear statements, then they set the bar very high more to hold.”
Doubts about Ullrich’s statements
However, there will be no motion to vote out at the Sports Committee meeting on Wednesday (April 27th, 2022), neither from the CDU/CSU nor from the other parliamentary groups. Nevertheless, Güntzler adds: “There is some evidence that what Frank Ullrich said about his participation in doping cannot be true.”
Doping expert Michael Lehner, who heads the Doping Victims Assistance Association, shares this assessment: “I think it is factually impossible that Frank Ullrich didn’t notice anything about doping in his GDR sports career. He must have noticed it.” And he gives the reason right away. “Biathlon in the GDR has been a high-doping discipline since the early 1970s. There were no exceptions.” In the GDR, Frank Ullrich was not only a highly successful biathlete, but later also a national coach.
Biathlon in the GDR has been a high-doping discipline since the early 1970s. There were no exceptions. | Doping expert Michael Lehner
Ullrich speaks of hounding
Ullrich sees himself wrongly suspected. In the last meeting of the representatives of the sports committee, he accused Güntzler of organizing a hunt for him, according to participants. So the tone is obviously rough in the debate about Frank Ullrich’s possible doping past.
Philipp Hartewig from the FDP speaks of “legitimate expectations” as far as the integrity of the sports committee members is concerned. “This also applies in particular to Frank Ullrich as chairman.” Not only the lawyer Hartewig, but also all other representatives emphasize that the presumption of innocence applies to Ullrich. Hartewig even warns: “We have to act carefully and should not make any prejudices. Because nothing has been proven so far.”
Support from the left and the AfD
Ullrich gets support from the representatives of the left and the AfD. “I think it’s wrong to question Frank Ullrich as chairman of the sports committee,” says Andre Hahn. Jörn König from the AfD sounds very similar: “For me, the issue is clear. The SPD should be happy that someone with this life experience is chairman of the committee and not some long-standing party official.” But König himself was a competitive swimmer in the GDR, which is why he adds: “As a GDR association coach, you certainly can’t stand up and say: I didn’t know anything about doping.”
This is one of the reasons why the topic has obviously not yet been settled. A clarification commission is needed, demands the deputy committee chairman Philip Krämer from the Greens: “I would appreciate it if Frank Ullrich would agree to the preparation of an independent report.”
Such a report could evaluate Stasi documents and possibly determine the truthfulness of Ullrich’s statements. “The allegations could possibly be cleared up once and for all,” the Green politician hopes. Ullrich himself has allegedly already met Evelyn Zupke, the SED victim commissioner in the German Bundestag. It is possible that the former world-class biathlete will discuss with her whether and how any Stasi files about him should be evaluated.
Poschmann calls for clarification
At today’s (Wednesday, April 27, 2022) sports committee meeting, the CDU/CSU parliamentary group wanted to apply for Ullrich’s dismissal from the NADA supervisory board. Ullrich’s waiver actually settled the matter. Nevertheless, the item on the agenda remains. The CDU/CSU obviously wants to continue to address this point and is hoping for a statement from the chairman of the sports committee on how he sees the demands for further processing.
Even Ullrich’s SPD party friend Sabine Poschmann demands: “Frank Ullrich must now provide clarification. We should give him time for this and wait and see what the talks with the SED victims’ commissioner in the German Bundestag reveal.” Andre Hahn from the left does not consider further investigation necessary and demands instead: “More than 30 years after reunification, we should finally stop hitting our ears with biographies.”