Paralympic Games
Sports shooters raise serious allegations against their own coach
Excessive training, a broken relationship with the coach and no backing from the association: For German para-sport shooters, the fame of the Paralympic Games has a long shadow.
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Excessive training times, a lack of empathy, reckless behavioral patterns: Paralympic marksmen raise serious allegations against their own trainer. The association continues to support him.
Several Paralympic athletes raise serious allegations against their coach Rudolf Krenn. As the “Tagesspiegel” reports, there were problems with the 62-year-old from the start of his coaching activity in 2013.
The deputy athlete spokeswoman Manuela Schmermund was one of the first athletes that Krenn looked after under the umbrella of the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS). She reports on the exaggerated demands that Krenn placed on the Para-Sportschütz: “He has set quite excessive training times without really incorporating periods of rest, which some with severe disabilities simply need.”
Training methods that wear you down
Training methods that apparently became normal and that the athletes were draining: “I’m actually already relatively tough. I’ve been through other things, I’ve jumped death twice, but that wears down in the long run,” explains the 49- Year olds. She remained steadfast, withstood the excessive training load, but she knew of at least four colleagues who stopped because of the poor handling of para-sport shooting.
One athlete who reported similar experiences is sports shooter Elke Seeliger. She is currently participating in the Tokyo Paralympic Games. As she reported to the “Spiegel” last week, only because of a compromise solution. There had been a quarrel between her and Krenn. According to Seeliger, her trainer forced her to take part in a course in February this year that was about 400 kilometers from where she lived. Allegedly he threatened her if she did not attend the course, the Paralympic Games in Tokyo would be canceled for her.
Seeliger gave in and drove to the appointment. “Eight and a half hours at the wheel is a big burden for a woman in a wheelchair,” she emphasizes in the “Spiegel”. Then she drew the consequences. In a letter from March, she announced her retirement from the national team.
Relationship between coach and team has been shattered for years
The reason that she is currently fighting for medals in Tokyo is that she is not looked after by Krenn, as usual, but by a physiotherapist. Your commitment and the support of the Lower Saxony Disabled Sports Association made this possible.
How long the relationship between Krenn and the athletes has been shattered is shown by an attempted discussion between the team and the coach. After the first incidents, the athletes collected their points of criticism and presented them to him. “In his answer he made it quite clear that criticism was not appropriate and that it was better to keep your mouth shut,” recalls Schermund.
Since the athletes bit on granite inside, they turned to the association. But that too regularly swept them away. “There were rounds of talks, but with zero results. The solution to the problem was repeatedly postponed, sat out and put into perspective,” said Schermund.
The association stands behind its trainer
She was only laughed at and did not feel understood. After she gave an interview shortly before the Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in which she was critical of her coach, she was even put under pressure. “I was asked for an interview and it was almost an interrogation. I should distance myself from the statements and withdraw them. Otherwise, they would consider sending me home in Rio before the start of the competitions.”
Seeliger describes similar experiences during this year. Rudolf Krenn defended himself in a telephone conversation with the “Spiegel” by saying that he suspected a campaign against himself. At the same time, the association stands behind its trainer: “At the moment I can only say that Rudi Krenn enjoys full trust and will continue to look after the shooting team,” said DBS Vice President and Head of Mission Dr. Karl Quade in the “Sportschau”.
Sources:“Tagesspiegel” “Spiegel”
