It is continued to be done at the Stuttgart base, because there are always goals: The next, the European Championship in May in Leipzig, is getting closer. However, significant changes have arisen for the athletes: As the Schwäbische Turnerbund (StB) reports, the training is currently being secured by the “community” of the coaching staff at the Art Gymnastics Forum. Two coaches were released after gymnasts denounced grievances at the end of the year, and the association does not comment on the contractual situation for legal reasons.
The shock is great according to the diverse descriptions of former and active gymnasts over the Stuttgart base, then also through training in Mannheim. Politics also see politics. The state government of Baden-Württemberg “expects a comprehensive, complete and transparent reappraisal of the allegations by an independent, external investigation commission”. This emerges from the answer to a request from the SPD. This Thursday, the events are on the agenda on the Committee on Culture, Youth and Sport.
:How the gymnastics associations react to the severe allegations
The German Turner Association and the Swabian Gymnastics Association express themselves-and want to “put the success of the measures initiated so far again”.
According to their own statements, the responsible Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport did not know about the allegations of former athletes about misconduct and grievances. This also announced it on the SPD request. As early as 2021, the former World Cup third Tabea Alt had contacted the German Turner Association and the Swabian Gymnastics Association in a letter, and the ministry was not informed about this, as it announced.
Sascha Binder, the parliamentary managing director of the SPD parliamentary group, sees this as evidence that “an internal processing is not sufficient”. He calls for an “automatic reporting obligation of such allegations to the Ministry of Culture”, which promotes sport by public funds. In the four years from 2021 to 2024, a total of 6.2 million euros in state funds flowed to the Swabian gymnastics association. “No abuse structures may be financed with funds in the country,” says the SPD faction’s statement.
However, there can be no question of only internal investigations. The Stuttgart public prosecutor’s office has initiated an investigation on suspicion of coercion in several cases, which is directed against a former coach at the Art Gymnastics Forum. There were several searches last week, including the StB and the Stuttgart Turnforum office and in Frankfurt in the DTB office. Both associations indicate that they are not considered the accused of the investigation, but are affected by the measures as so -called third parties and that they expressly welcome the criminal information.
DTB entrusted law firm Rettenmaier with the investigation because of her experience and expertise
At the same time, the investigation of the allegations that the DTB commissioned the Frankfurt law firm Rettenmaier on January 17th. This should clarify the processes in a first step. After that, an independent, still a professionally expert council, should come together, training methodology, structures and dealing with children and adolescents in Gymnastics processed. However, violent criticism has now become inflamed in the investigation by the law firm: On Tuesday, an open letter became known, in which 28 people, including many former pointed gymnasts, express doubts about the independence of an investigation that the association himself ordered.
The lawyer Felix Rettenmaier has occupied the external ombudsman in the German Olympic Sports Association as an independent lawyer since 2018. The German Turner Association selected the law firm because it “has considerable expertise in the area of sports law and experience in the implementation of such studies”, as the SZ request states. Because the law firm was involved in the processing of incidents in Chemnitz four years ago, it could fall back on these experiences “and start the examination immediately”. In addition, the DTB said on Wednesday, “with regard to the cooperation with the public prosecutor’s office, it must be ensured that the results of the investigation came about according to the existing standards and are legally usable”.
The gymnastics association assumes that the lawyers are busy clarifying events for several months. There is no deadline, also because the number of people who report cannot be planned. The information that the state government in Stuttgart calls for is only at the beginning.
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