With the end of the European Championships, the head of the Munich Olympic Park expresses serious allegations against the German Athletics Association, among others. Its President Jürgen Kessing defends himself against the criticism – but also admits that there were significant differences.
The German Athletics Association has rejected the massive criticism of the Olympiapark managing director Marion Schöne because of the lack of support for the European Championships in Munich from her point of view. “After the awarding of the European Championships, the DLV advocated cooperation with the Olympiapark München GmbH at an early stage,” said the association. Against the background of hosting the European Championship 2018 and the World Cup 2009, both of which were held in Berlin, “its expertise was offered to a large extent”.
For the first time in history as a national association in 2022, not being involved in the organization of the EM was “an unusual and suboptimal solution” from the point of view of the DLV and many other associations. The EM 2018 under the umbrella of the DLV and the European Athletics Association have set new standards.
“The DLV also wanted to bring this experience and this know-how to the European Championships 2022 in terms of the sustainability of resources and personnel,” it said. For this purpose, the Olympiapark München GmbH (OMG) was made a comprehensive and partnership-based offer in the form of a total package for the control of the European Championships in athletics as part of the European Championship.
“We cannot understand the content of the form,” said DLV President Jürgen Kessing of the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”. “We made contact very early on, and the offers we made there were not accepted.”
The DLV offer from 2019 included the complete processing and control of the athletics competitions in the stadium and on the street. It ranged from project management, organization of the competitions and communication, including promotion and community activation, to personal support from experts from “Berlin 2018”.
The amount of the offer included the costs that the DLV would have incurred as a result of the implementation. This complex offer was therefore clearly different from supporting the European Championships of the other associations. In the interview with the “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, Olympiapark boss Schöne spoke of a “low double-digit million amount” that the DLV offered and emphasized: “That was unacceptable.”
“However, the Olympiapark München GmbH rejected the offer and commissioned other service providers or GmbHs and paid them accordingly,” said the DLV. The German Athletics Association was therefore amazed at the form of criticism of the Olympiapark boss Marion Schöne about the cooperation, the statement said. “This in no way corresponds to the feedback that was expressed in the various personal discussions and meetings.”
At the same time, the DLV notes that there were different views from the DLV and the Olympiapark Society, which were reflected in the discussions about ticket prices, the inclusion of German athletics greats, the timing of the decathlon and the marathon start times, as well as other details of the schedule.
“The DLV makes it clear that its support of the athletes’ petition to adjust the marathon start times was solely for the benefit of all runners and not with the intention of creating a mood against the Olympic Park,” said the DLV.
