The allegations of abuse by former water jumper Jan Hempel weigh heavily. Calls for an external contact point with professional and full-time experts are getting louder in all aspects of swimming. “A mammoth project” is to be initiated.
A feeling of powerlessness is spreading in the German Swimming Association. The allegations of abuse made publicly by former world-class water jumper Jan Hempel must be clarified, and the new cases that have been received since then must be investigated. And that with “exclusively volunteer contact persons for the prevention of sexualised violence”, as the association (DSV) explained.
Even with the highest moral standards, you quickly come up against legal, structural and financial limits,” the DSV said in a statement and joined the call for an independent contact point “including the necessary financial resources from the public sector”.
Bettina Rulofs thinks this is exactly the right conclusion. The sports sociologist from the Cologne Sports University sees the associations when dealing with such cases “often heavily challenged from a technical and legal point of view”. A “Center for Safe Sport could provide professional orientation and set legal requirements so that the work in the associations is optimized,” said Rulofs of the German Press Agency.
The expert for research into violence and sexualized violence in sport is addressing the independent central point of contact for those affected – the Center for Safe Sport – which the Association of Athletes Germany had suggested last year. The construction of the center is anchored in the coalition agreement, it is “a mammoth project,” said athlete spokeswoman Karla Borger in the ZDF sports studio, but it is “on the rise”. There are still uncertainties about the financing.
A study by the German Sports University in Cologne, the University Hospital in Ulm and the University of Wuppertal, in which Rulofs was involved, showed that many sports associations needed support, especially in dealing with and processing suspected cases. In addition to an improved processing process, according to the sociologist, it is important that sports associations approach those affected. “Because they have been struggling with the harassment for years.”
The DSV assures that it does this. For example, since the latest allegations became known, prevention officer Franka Weber has contacted all the people whose names appear in the ARD documentary “Abused – Sexualized Violence in German Swimming”, made an offer of help and asked for further information. The association also apologized to all people “who have ever had to experience violence, whether physical, mental or sexual, in German swimming”. The current DSV managers want to do “everything in our power” to “prevent such incredible acts now and in the future”.
The association also hopes that funding will not be cut. The parliamentary state secretary responsible for sport in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, Mahmut Özdemir (SPD), recently made these suggestions. An association that does not adhere to the requirements and conditions for funding, “that tolerates sexualised violence, doping or other interpersonal violence, does not explain it, covers it up – such associations should not receive a cent from tax funds,” said Özdemir in the sports show. However, he did not specifically accuse the DSV.
