The Excel spreadsheet paralyzes the German top-level sport
The Olympic Games in Paris have ended, and the German delegation has achieved its minimum goal. However, no one in German sports seems truly satisfied. There are almost as many explanations as there are won medals. One thing is clear: there is a lot of work to be done before Los Angeles 2028.
Five, six, five, six, five, nine. Behind these six digits is not the extension number for the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), but the placings of Germany in the medal table of the Olympic Summer Games since 2000. Recently, a tenth place was added in Paris. It is the worst result since 1952, and the 33 medals are the fewest since reunification. The signs point to a downward trend.
There are many explanations. "In many countries, sport offers the opportunity to climb the social ladder. In Germany, that has been lost. That willingness to work hard is missing," said Uli Hoeneß, honorary president of FC Bayern. He went on to say, "In our country, we must again put more emphasis on performance. We must work harder to achieve more success." Before the Games, Robert Harting wrote in "Sports Illustrated" that "one should almost be ashamed of the lack of performance in Germany."
But is that true? Do young people no longer have the desire to excel in sports? "The breadth is not the problem. Our school is packed, not a bed is free," says Matthias Jackisch in an interview with ntv.de. He was once a trainer and a physical education teacher, and now he is the principal of the Leipzig State Sports School. "Our students today are no different from those who started school in 2008. We, of course, notice that the time-wasters around us are different. Smartphones, for example, we put a lot of emphasis on media competence. But we can't say that the basic attitude towards competitive sports has changed," he emphasizes.
Yet the results no longer match up. "If I focus only on grades 5 to 13, the world is in order. We offer optimal conditions here," says Jackisch. "The problem begins when they leave school. The interplay between study and competitive sports is always a compromise in Germany."
It is a structural problem, as there are not many alternatives. In addition to a classic degree or apprenticeship (of which there are only a few specifically for top athletes), many athletes join the military. A third of all German Olympic starters in Paris are in the military, and there are more than a dozen who earn their money with the federal police. The problem is that these places are not only sought after but also limited.
Not a few German athletes therefore seek their fortunes abroad - like silver medalist Leo Neugebauer. The decathlete is representative of several of his discipline who study at a US university and pursue their sport there. Basketball players Lina Sontag and Emily Bessoir played for the University of California last season. Swimmer Nicole Maier swims for the Miami University when she's not at the Olympics. Above all, through the giant market of college football, universities in the USA have significantly more financial resources than German universities.
But money is not only an issue in education. The different prioritization of elite sports is also evident in success. A German athlete receives 20,000 euros for a gold medal. In France, it's around 80,000 euros, in Serbia 201,000 euros, and China spends as much as 690,000 euros for each first place on the podium.
"We write Excel sheets, others train"
Even personnel issues have plagued German sport in recent years. "There's an absolute shortage of coaches, I can confirm that for every one of the 17 sports we have," says school principal Jackisch. "That's naturally due to the nature of the job itself. Training happens during the week, competitions are on weekends. It's not very family-friendly. And that's for not-so-competitive pay. You really have to bring a lot of passion to the table."
This isn't helped by the typical German bureaucracy that many active athletes and coaches find frustrating. "We're filling out Excel sheets while others are training. That can't be right," complained Jörg Bügner, sports director of the German Athletics Association (DLV), for example.
DOSB President Thomas Weikert has also recognized the problem. "There's a need for action on many levels. We need more coaches and better pay for coaches. I've been trying to push this forward for many years, but it hasn't been fully successful yet," he said on ZDF. The DOSB's assessment is mixed: the minimum goal of achieving a top-ten ranking in the medal table was achieved. Team D even has more gold medals in Paris than they did in Tokyo three years ago.
However, the overall medal haul has decreased. Fencers, shooters, wrestlers, and sailors returned without medals, joined by a historically weak cycling team. The swimmers remained at roughly the same level as last year. One could joke that it couldn't get much worse. One gold, one bronze in the pool, plus a silver through Oliver Klemet in open water.
The track and field athletes also confirmed the yield of recent years with three medals. It was the last time they had eight medals in 2012. Harting noted in his commentary before the games: "We can be happy that there's funding for track and field at all. But the fact is that 60 to 70 percent of the funding we have is spent on structures in high-performance sport. Structures that have not been producing medals in track and field for a long time."
But there was also positive news. Germany remains very strong in team sports. Silver for the men's hockey and handball teams, and the beach volleyball duo Ehlers/Wickler. The women's football team won bronze against the world champion from Spain as a farewell to Horst Hrubesch. Basketball also confirmed its potential. The men's team played for bronze, the women's team lost in the quarter-finals to host France, but also beat European champions Belgium in the group stage. The 3x3 women's team even won the first ever medal for German basketball, and a gold one at that. The German success stories on horseback and in canoeing also delivered in Paris.
Away from the sporting results, the enthusiasm in Germany both at the venue and in front of the TV also increased the chance of seeing the Olympic flame burning here again soon. Chancellor Olaf Scholz talked to athletes during his visits to Paris - and had to listen to some complaints, especially from the canoeists. Nevertheless, the government supports the intention to bid for the Games in 2036 or 2040. The top-level sport in a host city almost always benefits from the Olympics, as Jackisch observes. However, he advocates for clarifying one's own expectations first.
Looking ahead 10, 15 years, the big question will be how society positions itself towards elite sports. We all want the medals, and while reforms will follow, there's no clear line from the associations. We've seen what the Olympics did in Paris beforehand, it was the same in London. Suddenly, high-performance sports were a priority. That should also happen in Germany. Or we could decide it's more sensible to invest resources in mass sports. But then we'd have to accept being 15th or 16th in the medal rankings.
The Executive Board of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) will likely discuss the performance of German athletes at the Paris Games, as Uli Hoeneß and others have raised concerns about the country's decline in the medal table. The Commission, a potential advisory body within the DOSB, could be tasked with providing recommendations to address these issues.
To effectively address the issue of limited resources for elite athletes in Germany, The Commission might suggest exploring partnerships with international universities or organizations that offer comprehensive athletic and academic programs. This could provide German athletes with the necessary financial, training, and competitive opportunities to improve their performance on the global stage.
