Serious allegations against DOSB boss Hörmann: The empire strikes back

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DOSB President Alfons Hörmann

Photo: Fabian Strauch / dpa

Three days after a sensational open letter from part of the DOSB workforce describing a climate of fear in the headquarters of German sport, an Olympic association president discredited the authors of the letter in an incomparable way.

Matthias Große described the initiators of the desperate appeal as "informers" and "cowardly snipers" with "low motives".

Große is the controversial president of the German Speed ​​Skating and Short Track Association (DESG), which is funded with tax revenue.

He has long been one of the allies of the DOSB President Alfons Hörmann (CSU), who has been criticized in many ways.

Big partner, the federal police officer and five-time Olympic champion Claudia Pechstein, is a candidate for the CDU in the Treptow-Köpenick constituency in the upcoming elections to the German Bundestag.

"Victim of an ambush"

“I hate informers.

I am deeply opposed to people who report, publicly brand and prejudice others for low, personal motives, «said Große in a statement published on Sunday.

Hörmann was "victim of an ambush".

"To anonymously discredit such a straightforward, successful leader is characterless and in the end says much more about whoever got the ball rolling than about whoever has to stop the avalanche." Große writes of people, "the respected Attacking personalities publicly in order to drag their reputation into the mud out of lower instincts «.

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Matthias Grosse

Photo: 

Jörg Carstensen / dpa

Matthias Große - trained at a military political university in Minsk, at that time the Soviet Union - apparently does not know the valid ethics regulations of the DOSB and the paper on the "protection of whistleblowers" passed in December 2020.

It says: “An important building block for the discovery of misconduct are people who dare to point out grievances.

An open and trusting culture is an important basis for this. "

Anonymity is guaranteed and is a central part of any policy.

Nevertheless, according to SPIEGEL information, those affected have no trust in the ethics committee, which is docked directly at the DOSB and is by no means institutionally independent, and which is headed by the long-standing Federal Minister Thomas de Maizière (CDU).

The former sports minister de Maizière was always very close to Hörmann.

Even the ombudsman of the DOSB, for which the Frankfurt law firm Rettenmaier has been responsible since 2018, apparently hardly enjoys trust among those affected.

In this respect, the chosen route of an anonymous open letter seems logical.

Most of the issues mentioned therein have been known to the sport-political scene for a long time.

It is now clear that the letter published last Thursday is an authentic appeal for help written by employees of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB).

"We appeal to those affected to contact a neutral complaints office"

Christoph Niessen, CEO of the State Sports Association of North Rhine-Westphalia, told the FAZ: “Weeks ago, employees of the DOSB reported to us about incidents that were completely and partly verbatim with the allegations made in an anonymously published open letter against Mr. Hörmann has been expressed.

In addition, the events were confirmed to us by employees of the DOSB even after the letter was published.

We appeal to the employees concerned to contact a neutral complaints office. "

Stefan Klett, President of the State Sports Federation of North Rhine-Westphalia, called for Hörmann's resignation on Thursday in the ARD.

Rolf Müller, President of the Hessian LSB, questioned "whether the personality structure" of the DOSB leadership is "suitable for leading people with respect".

According to SPIEGEL information, no further calls for resignation were made at the meeting of the DOSB Presidium with the 16 state sports federations on Saturday.

The main topic was the corona situation.

The open letter with the allegations of bullying was only dealt with at the end of the session.

Hörmann himself gave a presentation on this for a few minutes.

The inquiries were limited.

The DOSB Presidium then published a further declaration in which it says that the anonymous letter "probably came from employees".

"This is not only disrespectful to us employees, but to the entire sports base."

Two days earlier, the DOSB leadership had raved about a "fake mail account" and wanted to discredit the authors of the letter with it. The presidium and board of the DOSB called the supposedly independent ethics committee on Saturday. According to the rules of procedure, the commission should have opened preliminary proceedings against Hörmann and executives from the board immediately after the open letter was published.

One topic of the open letter was how to deal with the corona rules.

"Unfortunately, there are members in the DOSB management bodies who consistently and consistently disregard these rules," it says.

“Across Germany, the sports base is currently fighting for survival every day after a year of existence-threatening restrictions.

At the same time, the very rules that are intended to enable us all to get out of the pandemic are being disregarded.

This is not only disrespectful to us employees, but above all to the entire sports base. "

A screenshot of the presidium meeting on Saturday became public.

None of the eleven DOSB executives in this photo wore a mask according to the regulations.