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Former competitive athlete Baumann: "I'm proud of my father. But I'm trying to write my own story"
Photo:
Sonja Och / DER SPIEGEL
Four days before the German Athletics Championships in Braunschweig, the best German hurdler over 400 meters is at the bottom.
Jackie Baumann has been tormenting self-doubt for days, again.
It's a Tuesday noon in August.
She lies down on the sofa to find sleep.
Sleep that had become less and less the previous nights.
"At that point the tension in me was already so high that I had had to start right away," recalls the 25-year-old student.
At some point, she says in retrospect, she can no longer take the pressure.
She wants to talk to her parents.
Mother Isabelle is both her trainer and closest confidante, father Dieter an advisor.
Her daughter's fears about the competitions have been a constant theme in the family for years.
"Come on, try again", they say benevolently to her.
But with every sentence, says Jackie Baumann, her body blocked more.
Everything in her screamed no.
"I felt trapped and knew there was only one way out: I would stop."
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