Berlin (dpa) – The chairman of the sports committee in the German Bundestag, Frank Ullrich, has spoken out in favor of greater appreciation and better payment for athletes.
“The Olympic Games belong to the athletes,” said the 1980 Olympic biathlon champion to the editorial network Germany before the start of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing. For this reason it is important that the International Olympic Committee (IOC) stands behind them and protects them in difficult situations.
“Year after year you train to make your Olympic dream come true. Every career is finite,” said the 64-year-old SPD politician. The future task of the IOC is to “show the limits of how big the games can and should be”.
Ullrich wants to work for a higher appreciation of the top athletes, “be it in the form of a fair premium increase with a sense of proportion or additional pension points”. Deutsche Sporthilfe currently pays 20,000 euros for an Olympic victory, 15,000 euros for a silver medal and 10,000 euros for a bronze medal.