Their struggle for equal opportunities and nomination fairness lasted two and a half years. In the meantime, it looked like a success for the beach volleyball players Kim van de Velde (nee Behrens) and Cinja Tillmann. But in the end they failed with their claim for damages against the German Volleyball Association (DVV). The Higher Regional Court of Frankfurt (OLG) dismissed the lawsuit of the athletes in the last instance. Previously, the district court had ruled in favor of the players. The DVV had appealed against this.
Knowledge has never been more valuable
Read now for free for F+ 30 days and get access to all articles on FAZ.NET .
NOW F+ READ Achim Dreis sports editor. I follow
Tillmann/Behrens had resisted the fact that in the summer of 2019 they were obviously disadvantaged by the association in the nomination for international tournaments at world tour level. They were not allowed to play in seven events at once, although in their opinion they would have qualified for it according to the world ranking.
Only four teams per nation are allowed to participate in a tournament at this level. The top three are set. Elimination matches are usually played for the fourth place. The Germans, however, avoided this “country quota”. DVV sports Director Niclas Hildebrand simply cancelled Behrens / Tillmann in order not to endanger the Olympic chances of the other German duos who competed under the Labal “national team”.
Monopoly position of the association
As a result, the private team escaped fees and prize money in the five-digit amount, which they demanded back. The regional court had already followed their opinion on October 7, 2020. It put the losses at at least $ 17,000 (16,122 euros) and ordered the DVV to pay damages. The association has a monopoly position, is therefore obliged to “standardize everyone for competitions who meets the requirements for performance”.
The Higher Regional Court now assessed the facts differently: “A claim for damages could only have been awarded if it could have been determined that the association should have had to nominate the applicants for every tournament.“ But this is not the case. It could “ultimately remain open whether the association had abused its dominant position,” it continued. The decision can no longer be appealed, although the Higher Regional Court admits: “Doubts were raised to the extent that the association, with the determination of privileged teams for the entire year 2019, had in principle paid too little attention to the world ranking points achieved by the applicants and thus the performance principle.”
“We are glad that the process has now been completed,” DVV Board member Julia Frauendorf said after the decision. Regardless of the verdict, however, the DVV’s nomination criteria would be examined. The “Country Quota” has already been reintroduced.
