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Karla Borger wants to dismantle fronts with athletes in Germany – sport

The beach volleyball player Karla Borger becomes president of the Athleten Deutschland club. The two-time Olympian from Heppenheim prevailed at the virtual general meeting on Saturday against the wheelchair basketball player Mareike Miller and the former water polo player Tobias Preuss, who becomes vice president. “I’m of course really happy. I am also happy to be able to roll up my sleeves with Tobias at my side and the newly elected Presidium and to be able to move even further in sport,” said Borger in the Deutschlandfunk. She succeeds the founding president Max Hartung.

Borger and her beach volleyball partner Julia Sude are among the best in the world. Although it wasn’t enough to win a medal in Tokyo, the duo recently triumphed at the World Tour final in Italy and want to take part in the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024.

In the midst of the leadership crisis at the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), which is electing a new presidium in December, Borger does not want to build new fronts in her new role: “We are striving for a constructive and trusting relationship with the new umbrella organization. We want an open and impartial Dialogue so that goals for athletes can be formulated together and a clear distribution of tasks can be found. ” Hartung had recently criticized the procedure in the search for a successor to the controversial association boss Alfons Hörmann because the athlete representatives were not involved.

Under Hartung’s leadership, Athleten Germany has gained considerable influence in sports politics

In addition to the 32-year-old Hartung, Preuss and Miller, the athletes’ new presidium also includes the marathon runner Fabienne Königstein and the art cyclist Lukas Kohl. The former fencing world champion Hartung, 32, had not stood for election like all other members of the presidium. After the Olympic Games in Tokyo, the Dormagener ended his active career and is now managing director of the Sportstiftung NRW. “It was a very intense time for him,” said Borger of her predecessor. “He also had a lot of doubts and I am very happy that he has really continued to stride courageously and has not withdrawn.”

In 2017 Hartung co-founded the Athletes Germany Association. Under his leadership, the independent interest group established itself as a voice for the squad athletes and gained considerable influence in sports policy – against the resistance of the DOSB, which saw the athletes adequately represented in its athletes’ commission. On Saturday, the DOSB congratulated Borger on the election via Twitter.

With the support of taxpayers ‘money, the club, headed by Managing Director Johannes Herber, campaigns successfully for athletes’ rights. In the first four years, the organization improved its financial support under the catchwords “Voice”, “Protection” and “Perspective”, established legal advice for athletes and brought about greater marketing opportunities for image rights at the Olympic Games through the Federal Cartel Office. The association is currently working on the implementation of an independent center for “Safe Sport” that victims of sexual violence can turn to. The annual budget of Athleten Germany with almost 1,400 members is more than 500,000 euros.

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