Previous Olympic diver Jan Hempel has accused the German Swimming Federation (DSV) of disregarding his sexual abuse issues.
The 50-year-previous from Dresden, who represented Germany at four Olympics, claims he was regularly abused by former supervisor Werner Langer for 14 yrs. He allegedly begun it in 1982, when Hempel was only 11 many years previous.
“The federation recommended me not to distribute it since it would endanger our activity”, Hempel advised the DPA information company Friday. Hempel initial released the allegations from Langer in a document entitled “Abuse – Sexual abuse in German swimming”, broadcast Thursday on the German public tv ARD. He also documented the allegations of other previous swimmers who were abused by the coaches.
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Hempel mentioned Langer’s abuse was regular right up until just before the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, when he was in a position to defend himself for the very first time. He added that a yr later on he knowledgeable the coach of the German nationwide group, Ursula Klingerová. Langer was suspended, but in accordance to Hempel it wasn’t for the reason that of sexual abuse, but due to the fact of his alleged previous in the Stasi top secret police, which operated in the 1970s and 1980s in the previous German Democratic Republic (GDR). Langer afterwards worked with Austrian swimmers. In 2001 he committed suicide.
Hempel advised ARD that Langer even abused him in general public restrooms all through the 1992 Barcelona Olympics ahead of he went to contend. “He didn’t miss a single chance” Hempel said.
In a assertion, the DSV expressed its “deep dismay at the explained experiences of the victims” and apologized to the victims for “obtaining experienced to endure this sort of traumatic ordeals”. He also declared that he would be suspending national diving mentor Lutz Buschkow, who Hempel reported was conscious of Langer’s abuses. Buschkow labored with the German staff at this year’s European Championships in Rome. But DSV reported the files examined did not exhibit Buschkow was aware of the alleged abuse.
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