Uwe Gensheimer was always the player with the rubber wrist. It was incredible what the left winger could do with the ball – he twisted it, twirled it, let it whiz into the goal from impossible angles. In his prime, Gensheimer was called the best left winger in the world in handball in his home town of Mannheim with the Rhein-Neckar Löwen and some at Paris Saint-Germain in France.
In the national team he was less fortunate. Gensheimer has been the captain since 2014 and won the Olympic bronze medal in Rio in 2016, but recently returned from major tournaments disappointed. Balls that he reliably placed in the net at the club landed next to the goal, on the post or on the arm or leg of some goalkeeper. At the Olympic Games in Tokyo he was just a substitute.
This is one of the reasons why Gensheimer, 34, has now decided to leave the national team after 16 years. On Thursday morning the German Handball Federation (DHB) announced the resignation of its captain, and not only this: Backcourt player Steffen Weinhold is also stopping, defense chief Hendrik Pekeler wants to take a “longer break”, goalkeeper Johannes Bitter only helps out in emergencies. Make four players with more than 100 international matches each, which will no longer be available at the upcoming European Championship in Hungary and Slovakia. “All four are faces of our sport,” said national coach Alfred Gislason, who, in addition to the aftermath of the disappointment in Tokyo, the end in the quarter-finals against Egypt, suddenly has to cope with a major upheaval.
Looking at it soberly, saying goodbye to Gensheimer is the least of all evil. In Tokyo and previously at the World Cup in Egypt, the Mannheim native was only second choice behind Marcel Schiller. That brought problems, because while Gensheimer was on the bench, Gislason was immediately confronted with questions as to why the captain was not playing. Schiller, 29, has of course proven his strong nerves in critical situations and there are still good years ahead of him. Rune Dahmke (THW Kiel), Patrick Zieker (TBV Stuttgart) or Matthias Musche from Magdeburg can fill the gap that Gensheimer leaves behind.
Pekeler takes a break – he is reacting to the flood of deadlines in handball
It looks different with Weinhold, Pekeler and Bitter. In Tokyo – in a disappointing national team – you were by far among the best. Pekeler held the defense together and is very respected internationally. Weinhold rummaged through on half-right very reliably when the backcourt lacked punch again. Goalkeeper Bitter let only two of nine balls pass in the preliminary round against Norway in the closing stages. “What I have in Steffen and Peke, I’ve known since we were together at THW Kiel,” said Gislason, “and Jogi, who I knew as a young man at SC Magdeburg, is an extremely experienced goalkeeper.” He also knows: The quality of the national team will now decline for the time being.
While Weinhold, 35, and Bitter, 38, are of a very retiring age, the situation at Pekeler is more difficult. The 30-year-old recently made it clear that he wants to react personally to the flood of deadlines in handball if the associations do not offer him a solution. In the club, at the THW Kiel, he cannot take it easy; so he’s paused in the national team, which means a few fewer games a year. He “decided for my family who needed me,” said Pekeler, father of three young children. He leaves it open whether and when he will return from his break. The EM 2022 will almost certainly take place without him.
Uwe Gensheimer set a new record before resigning, and since January has been the most successful German goalscorer at world championships, ahead of Florian Kehrmann and Christian Schwarzer. A nice record at the end, but Gensheimer knows: It would have been more possible.
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