After the lockdown, many children felt alienated from their club sport
The Olympics in Beijing is just around the corner and with it the fundamental question that Thomas Weikert, the new President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), recently asked in his inaugural speech: It is finally necessary to clarify which sport we have in this country want. You yourself had revived this debate when, at the award ceremony for the “Silver Laurel Leaf” last November, in the presence of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, you declared that sport should be defined as a national goal. Why?
In my opinion, sport embodies an elementary, indispensable tool for society and deserves adequate appreciation. Where else could the entire system of sport be anchored better than in the Basic Law? Such formulations would certainly not automatically result in paragraphs that sport and its representatives could then legally invoke. But sport as a state goal in the Basic Law would be a commitment that no one can ignore.
Are you alluding to bitter experiences in the permanent lockdown, when organized sport and its interests were practically ignored by politicians?
As a competitive athlete, I’ve always looked ahead. Basics are needed so that a lockdown like this doesn’t happen again to the sport. It is pointless to speculate whether sports operations would have come through the pandemic better with an entry in the Basic Law as a state goal. What is certain is that this sporting standstill will still be hard on our feet. I was able to feel some of the effects very closely on my two five- and seven-year-old sons. The little one in particular, who used to love going to club sports, suddenly had inhibitions after the lockdown and was hardly motivated. It took a long time before he found fun in sports again. Children, even at school, suddenly became afraid of the group. That could be clearly observed. These are consequences that we cannot yet measure.
Spontaneous impulse or a well-considered move?
Let’s say that this was spontaneously planned for the Federal President, when it was clear that I should give the acceptance speech on behalf of the athletes. So I took advantage of the opportunity and was so bold as to speak directly and personally to the Federal President about this topic, which has been bothering me for a long time. In my opinion, sport – and not just competitive sport – must be careful not to get under the wheels and with it the values it lives by, such as solidarity and togetherness. Sport is not just about medals, it is also social and health policy. We have to stand up for that, that’s what I stand for, and that’s what I want to promote.
In 2006, the year it was founded, the DOSB suggested including sport in the Basic Law – as the largest civil movement in the country and because of its importance for coexistence, for integration, imparting values and health, because of its economic importance and the international representation of our athletes and identification with them you. The request of the then DOSB President Thomas Bach has remained unheard by politicians to this day.
Unheard does not quite correspond to the facts, in September 2018 the Bundestag dealt with it and made an assessment. Unfortunately with a result that is unsatisfactory for the sport and all active people, regardless of whether they are top athletes or hobby athletes. Perhaps there were still too many skeptics back then who thought that the inclusion of sport would water down the other state goals too much. Now is the time for the Bundestag to take up the issue again and deal with it in the new legislative period. Not least after the experience of the pandemic.
At the end of your career you cleared up again thoroughly. In your sixth Olympic participation, you won your fifth Olympic medal and gold in »K4« in the last race in Tokyo. At the closing event, you carried the German flag into the stadium, and recently you received the “Sparkassenpreis for role models in sport” for your balancing act between top and junior sport and became Brandenburg’s “Sportsman of the Year” 2021. How are you doing now?
I had a lot of respect before the end of my sporting career, that’s a big break. It is now clear that I can remain in the Bundeswehr as a career soldier, although I want to bring the troops into shape a bit in the areas of sport and nutrition. In addition, I try, as before, to inspire young canoeists for this sport. I recently founded a GmbH to sell my own healthy nutrition products. I’m not bored. On the contrary, I now have to make a note in my calendar when I get on the boat to de-train, so that I don’t forget about the other projects.
