Gymnasts of the 2nd Bundesliga in Mannheim (11.10.2020)
On the recommendation of the German Gymnastics Federation, DTB, trainer Gabriele Frehse and trainer Gerrit Beltman are to be dismissed for “serious breaches of duty”. Previously, several gymnasts, including ex-world champion Pauline Schäfer, and two former trainers had accused them of harassing them for years at the Chemnitz federal base. You be illegally They were given strong pain medication and suffered from eating disorders. Why do you think this is excessive?
Anyone reading this headline will certainly think at first glance how bad what happened there and consider the consequences under labor law appropriate. I don’t even want to deny these athletes from the outset that they might have had such perceptions during training back then. However, these allegations are so grave that I believe they need to be checked for real content. I have my doubts about the study commissioned by the DTB. Only the female athletes from that time were heard very one-sidedly. This is an enlightenment approach that I cannot accept. That is why I am very proud of the campaign by the parents of our 24 squad gymnasts. The open letter finally made it possible to see things differently, and that is a huge success.
To what extent has the statement made by the parents last Wednesday, in which they advocate the continued employment of trainer Frehse and describe her as a “reliable person with integrity”, changed something?
The open letter shows: the children and young people want her as a trainer, just not public opinion. My granddaughter, for example, was born in 2000 and started gymnastics at the age of three under the care of Ms. Frehse. Does anyone really think I would entrust my own granddaughter to someone who bullies and torments their athletes? In addition, the Frehse and Beltman cases must be viewed in a differentiated manner.
What do you mean?
Mr. Beltman is employed by our association and Ms. Frehse at the Olympic base in Chemnitz. As for the Federal Gymnastics Center in Chemnitz, we as an association are its sponsors. We spend considerable resources on this every year. More precisely, it is an annual higher five-figure sum that the federal base benefits from the association. This is a very unusual construction in the German competitive sports system.
You could withdraw your club funds from the federal base and thus from the association because you feel that you have been treated unfairly.
It is not an option. Our team athletes between the ages of eleven and twelve and their early twenties cried snot and water when they heard that Ms. Frehse was not allowed to come into the hall for the time being. Personally, I don’t stand behind her, but next to and in front of this long-standing and experienced trainer. I hope this public campaign against them will not succeed. In addition to lip service, I expect clear statements from the Deutscher Turnerbund about the future coaching situation in Chemnitz.
Does that mean that training is currently down?
The association provided us with Ms. Claudia Schunk as the national junior trainer at short notice, but according to the DTB only “selectively”. She is a very committed and highly qualified trainer, but she can neither be a long-term personal security for our gymnastics team nor a medium-term solution with regard to the qualification of our candidates for the national team and thus in preparation for the Olympic Games in Tokyo. Our athletes, their parents and the entire club appeal to all those responsible to ensure conditions under which normal work can be done here again.
