Sport Robert Harting
“Germany is fat, uncreative and old”
Status: 04/09/2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Clear words: Robert Harting on Sunday in the BILD program “Halleluja”.
Source: IMAGE
Robert Harting denounces the abuses in German sport. Athletics has become unattractive for athletes and coaches. There is a lack of young people and money. Societally and politically, too, many things are going wrong. Achievement must pay off in this country again.
The discussion has been open since the medalless World Championships in Athletics in August at the latest. After in Budapest for the first time in the history of the German Athletics Federation not a single precious metal could be won, there is a public debate about the causes and consequences.
“It was certainly sad too. And it’s a shame in the sense that all ambition is not worth it. Achievement must pay off again in this country. And that’s a really big management,” recognized Robert Harting. “The performance is improving, but Germany is not developing with it. Of course, this is also due to the political attitude in our country. Get better, be first. That doesn’t exist,” said the Olympic champion and three-time world champion in discus on Sunday in a TV interview for the program “HALLEluja” on BILD, also alluding to the changing performance culture in Germany.
Successful and loud: Robert Harting became Olympic champion in 2012 and world champion in discus in 2009, 2011 and 2013
Source: dpa/Kay Nietfeld
Recently there had been numerous voices in public that had commented emotionally and critically on the reform of the National Youth Games. From this school year, third and fourth graders only carry out a “movement-oriented competition” in which times and distances are no longer measured exactly. The competitive character is abolished in order not to discriminate against weaker students.
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“It is actually a fault of the parents. They are simply too uncreative to explain to their children what is good and what is bad about their performance,” says Harting, who complains about the zeitgeist: “Performance takes place outside of the comfort zone. But we are all a bit the children of Merkel, who did a lot for peace. The collective was important. On the other hand, the individual who dares to take the new, pioneering step and goes beyond himself, wants to be first, is no longer attractive. We see that in the economy too. The performance culture – performance must be worthwhile – is no longer present in our country.”
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Harting also recognizes the symptoms in terms of the extent and manner in which competitive sport is promoted. The sports reform of 2016, for example, was wrong. The amount of financial donations should not be based on the quantitative strength of an association, but on the top athletes. And in general there is a lack of the necessary funds. “At the base in Berlin, physiotherapist positions cannot be filled because there is a lack of money,” reported Harting.
Germany is paying 276 million euros for the Olympic Federal Sports Associations – too little in international comparison. There is also a lack of young people, trainers, supervisors, diagnosticians and professional expertise.
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“We lack young talent and we lack science. We no longer have the know-how. The many millions from the Federal Ministry of the Interior don’t really arrive down there,” says Harting, meaning the bloated bureaucracy, or as he says “a hydrocephalus. The money for a free, creative performance culture is not there. Germany is fat, uncreative and old. Such is the status we must continue to fight. Sport in our country is like a little child that you don’t really know how to take care of.”
He still expects “30 to 35 medals” for the Olympic Games in Paris next year. After that, however, the bottom awaits: “In 2028, the biggest debacle will still be ahead of us. Only then will things start to improve again.”
Assuming there is a rethink now. Harting tries to compare it to football. About 20 years ago, the German Football Association took countermeasures after latent undesirable developments and became world champions in 2014.
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