Great sport – the German team has not offered that as often as expected over the past 16 days. The German medal winners were celebrated almost every evening in an impressive setting and exuberant atmosphere. But the overall results of Team Germany are rather mixed. The medalless fencers, marksmen, wrestlers, sailors, the disappointing swimming world champion Florian Wellbrock and the historically weak cycling team became symbols of failure.
“Action needed on many levels”
Once again, there was significantly less medal glory than three years ago in Tokyo, the worst performance since reunification despite the XXL team and the total failure of former flagship disciplines: German sport has a lot of work ahead of it on the long road to the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Jörg Bügner, sports director of the German Athletics Association, summed up the problem in one sentence: “We write Excel tables, the others train – and that cannot be.” The 37 medals at the Corona Games in Tokyo were already a low point in recent decades. This time, after a weak first week, even the minimum target of 30 was difficult.
Overworked and underpaid coaches, criticism of sports funding: After Paris, many things in German sport will be put to the test. “There is a need for action on many levels. We need more coaches and better pay for coaches. I have been trying to push this forward for many years. It has not yet been entirely successful,” Weikert admitted on Sunday on ZDF. Sports in schools and kindergartens and a lack of money are also problems, added the DOSB president.
Criticism grows
“We started these games with a different goal,” said Olaf Tabor, Chef de Mission, with a view to the number of medals. The partial goal of once again making it into the top ten nations in the medal table was achieved. But while the celebrated host France celebrated a series of medals and even the much smaller Dutch team became real competition, a debate about the possible consequences and, above all, the causes has flared up in German sport.
The medal-guarantors in horse riding and canoeing saved the team from even greater harm. The 3×3 basketball team, the mixed triathlon, shot putter Yemisi Ogunleye and the handball players also delivered memorable Olympic moments. But criticism of German sport is growing – and is not even primarily aimed at the athletes. “Priorities must be set in the promotion of elite sport and, above all, clear and consistent goals must be formulated,” said Frank Ullrich, head of the Bundestag’s sports committee, to “Spiegel”.
Boll, Kerber and Dauser retire
The 66-year-old complained that the DOSB had only set itself “minimal goals” for the Olympic Games. “Personally, I would have liked the DOSB to have a different mindset. We need to push forward.” At the end of the Paris Games, the DOSB announced the “perspective goal of fifth place in the summer.” However, it remains unclear how this will be achieved. Tabor did admit: “We are not only willing to make major changes, we also believe they are necessary.”
After table tennis star Timo Boll, tennis player Angelique Kerber and gymnastics world champion Lukas Dauser ended their careers, German sport needs new role models. “With all due respect for the achievements in top-class sport, it must be said after this Olympics: Germany is not where we should and could be in terms of sport either,” criticized CDU leader Friedrich Merz.
Upward trend in team sports
According to many experts and politicians, a German bid for the Summer Games would be a way to achieve greater success. A German bid for the Summer Games could be considered in 2036 at the earliest, but more likely in 2040. The government supports the idea, and Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited the Stade Jean-Bouin twice during the Paris Days and also spoke to athletes.
“As you know, it is also our plan to focus on the Olympic Games in Germany again. In this respect, it is a great inspiration that we are experiencing together here,” said Scholz about the successful games in France, where athletes such as swimmer Leon Marchand and judoka Teddy Riner also shone. They became ambassadors of these games.
There was a notable upward trend in team sports. Numerous German national teams qualified for Paris. The beach volleyball duo Nils Ehlers and Clemens Wickler won a medal, as did the women’s soccer team, the men’s hockey team, the women’s 3×3 basketball team and the handball team, who provided one of the highlights of these games with their successful quarter-final thriller against hosts France.
But while only a few medals are awarded in the team competitions, there are numerous sports with many decisions in which the Germans had no chance at all. “We cannot bring about change overnight. It is a medium-term process, hopefully not a marathon,” said Tabor in his outlook.
