The elite sports reform that has been sought for almost ten years seems to have failed once again. When it was announced that the draft bill for a sports funding law would be sent to the other ministries for a vote, the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) reacted within a few hours on Friday with the accusation that the ministry was endangering the goals of the competitive sports reform. The law is considered the basis for the establishment of the independent agency for the promotion and management of top-class sport, which both the federal government and the sport are striving for. According to the DOSB, staff from the Federal Office of Administration should be employed in the agency, which he describes as a “continuation of the excessive administrative processes”.
“In an initial analysis of the draft, we are sobered to see that with this draft law, after more than two years of joint intensive work on reforming competitive sports and promoting top-class sports, the BMI is questioning the previously trusting cooperation with organized sports,” says one Statement from the DOSB.
“We are not achieving a new approach with this,” said Torsten Burmester, the chairman of the DOSB, on Friday to this newspaper: “The goals that we originally pursued are not achieved with this draft, especially when it comes to the topics of de-bureaucratization, flexibility and efficiency concerns; We are clearly falling short of what was agreed. We expect a clear commitment from the federal government to promote elite sports.” The draft does not include an update on elite sports funding at the current level of 300 million euros per year.
“A few months before the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, this is a bitter disappointment for the athletes and unacceptable for all organized sport in Germany,” DOSB President Thomas Weikert was quoted as saying in his association’s statement. He also criticizes the fact that rigidity and obstacles should not be eliminated, but should be institutionalized through the status of the agency. “In view of the shackles placed on it by the federal government in this draft, one can no longer speak of the agency’s independence,” Weikert continues to complain: “We will clearly oppose this in the interests of the athletes and top-class sport in Germany in the further proceedings. “
Jens Nettekoven, DOSB Vice President and member of the steering group for the reform, criticizes: “We wanted to simplify processes so that coaches and competitive sports staff can concentrate on making athletes better and developing them further. We won’t achieve it that way, on the contrary, future success at the top level will be made more difficult and the question arises as to the usefulness of the project.”
According to the BMI’s planning, the draft law should be submitted to the cabinet before the summer break and passed by parliament in 2024. The agency should therefore begin work as a public foundation in 2025. It is to be entrusted with the distribution of state funding for elite sports and the management of top-class sports. The justification for the law states: “The existing framework conditions in top German sport do not represent a sufficient basis for future success at the top level. The achievement of sporting goals – in particular a top 5 placement at the Summer Olympics and a top 3 -Placement at the Olympic Winter Games in the nations ranking – is becoming increasingly dangerous against this background.”
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This also applies to the sports policy goals of the traffic light. After the failure of the sports development plan, including the so-called movement summit, with which the federal government, states and associations wanted to establish sport as a cross-sectional task in practically all areas of society, the dispute between the ministry and sport is the next setback. Under these circumstances, there can no longer be any talk of an Olympic bid, which sport and the state would have to support together and which is also a sports policy goal of the traffic light. The last and only major sports policy project that the SPD, Greens and FDP agreed on in the coalition agreement is the Center for Safe Sport.
