In 2006, Thomas Springstein was sentenced to one year and four months in prison for doping a minor. 17 years later, he and his wife Grit Breuer founded an athletics club in Rostock. But does a coach caught up in doping scandals deserve a second chance many years later? And if so, how?
Even today, at the age of 65, the former star coach still divides opinions in the athletics scene. This was also the case last weekend at the North German Championships for those under twenty in Hamburg.
“Yes, I have a lot of stomach ache, after all, it was one of the most serious doping cases. Some say he deserves a second chance. But there is a code of honor and that’s why I personally wouldn’t enter a hall again if I had done something like that.” said coach Jan Dreier from LK Weiche Flensburg to NDR.
Reactions fall different out of
His colleague Andreas Fuchs from Kronshagen feels the exact opposite: “Basically, I think it’s great that he’s getting involved again for his daughter and for young people. We don’t have enough trainers anyway. I think that’s very respectable and okay.”
Dirk Schulz, state heptathlon coach from Schleswig-Holstein, speaks of an oppressive feeling. “It would be difficult with people who confess what was wrong. But I don’t know of any such confession and that’s why it’s difficult for me to be relaxed in a collegial manner.”
Andreas Grieß, state coach for Lauf Hamburg, weighs in: “When it comes to all moral issues, no grass can be allowed to grow over it, but at the same time, fortunately, we live in a society where people are allowed a second chance. In principle, it is welcome, but I wouldn’t have coffee right now drink with him.”
Blocking for Krabbe and Breuer
Thomas Springstein and doping have a history going back around 40 years. The sprint coach studied in Leipzig at the GDR squad forge DHfK. Before reunification, he was at SC Neubrandenburg, which apparently had a full-fledged doping program at the time.
After reunification, Springstein became national coach and base coach in Neubrandenburg. In 1992, several of his athletes gave identical urine samples at a training camp in South Africa. Among others, the double world champion Katrin Krabbe and European champion Grit Breuer. Six months later they were convicted of taking the drug clenbuterol, which is commonly used in calf fattening, and banned for drug abuse.
In 2006, Thomas Springstein was sentenced to 16 months probation for doping a minor. According to the court, he gave the then 16-year-old Anne-Kathrin Elbe a bottle of vitamin pills, which after an examination turned out to be a testosterone preparation.
Own club OSL Rostock founded
Until now, Thomas Springstein and his current wife Grit Breuer and their daughter were at the 1st LAV in Rostock. But there were apparently different opinions about the training design. The 15-year-old is now training on the same facilities, but in the new club, the Ostsee Sprint and Running Team Rostock (OSL). There are two other young athletes there.
“She trained at 1. LAV Rostock until the summer. She then wanted to train with her parents or be looked after. That wasn’t possible in our competitive sports structures. We would have wished it differently. I can do that so openly and honestly, but then it doesn’t fit together. And we also accept if a special path is chosen in this case,” explained Ralf Ploen, state coach of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
This is what the Springstein case looks like legally today
Doping prevention is one of the central tasks of the state sports associations. Torsten Haverland, managing director of the LSB Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, commented on Springstein’s comeback when asked by NDR: “It’s not pretty, but it’s normal. You also have to see it from the perspective of the parents, who were successful themselves. Springstein is supported by He doesn’t finance us, he doesn’t get any public funding and what he does there privately is basically his business.”
Since 2015, there has been a new anti-doping law in Germany that aims to combat the use of doping substances and methods in sport and, above all, to ensure fairness and equal opportunities and thus the integrity of sport. What does the Springstein case look like legally today?
“Once you’ve served a ban or a sanction, then there’s nothing stopping you from returning to sport. But from a sport-specific perspective and from a moral and ethical perspective, you obviously have to look at it in a more differentiated way. Is the appropriate environment ready? Are you prepared? “To actually play sports again with someone who has such a past?” said Lars Mortsiefer, head of the German anti-doping agency NADA.
What about them? Role model function?
For the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) it is also “important that everyone who trains with Mr. Springstein or entrusts him with their children is fully informed about his past as a trainer.” The German Athletics Association (DLV) stated briefly: “Since there is no ban on practicing his profession, he can work as a trainer again.”
But in the declarations of honor from DOSB and DLV, the special role model function of trainers is highlighted. Every coach signs this sentence: “In particular, I take on a positive and active role model function in the fight against doping.”
The DLV writes: “Since the DLV does not work with Thomas Springstein, the question of Springstein’s role model function does not arise for us.”
Neither 1. LAV Rostock nor Thomas Spingstein nor his wife Grit Breuer were willing to tell the NDR Sportclub about their sprint team. Daughter Paula came third in the 200 m in Hamburg. But the question of whether her father Thomas Springstein is a suitable coach today will continue for a long time.
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Sports club | 02/04/2024 | 10:50 p.m
