“System problem” in German sport?

Heptathlete Carolin Schäfer spoke of a “system problem” in view of the poor German performance at the World Championships in Athletics in Eugene and criticized false expectations.

“We simply don’t have the medal candidates in breadth anymore, but you rely on a handful of athletes who are supposed to get the medals in the end. That is of course fatal,” said the 2017 vice world champion of the Frankfurter Neue Presse.

“I find it extremely difficult to put pressure on these few stars,” said Schäfer: “Medals cannot be planned. It’s more of a system problem.”

According to Schäfer, this is mainly due to the partial incompatibility of top-class sport and vocational training.

“We have to develop support programs that give children and young people the prospect of focusing on sport in addition to their dual careers,” said the 30-year-old: “You have to ask: What happens after school education? What options do you have? How do you encourage young adults? Is it possible to help the parents financially? Not everyone can afford that. That is the crux of the matter.”

There are certainly possibilities, but: “I can understand that not everyone wants to join the police or the armed forces, so alternative offers must be created,” demands Schäfer.

At the World Championships in Eugene, the German team did historically poorly with only two medals. Schäfer was absent due to a lack of training, but she is at the start of the European Championships in Munich (15th to 21st August).

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