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"They want leadership. They get it now": The acting DESG boss Matthias Große
Photo:
imago sportfotodienst / imago images / Matthias Koch
Matthias Große is perhaps the most polarizing figure in German winter sports at the moment.
At the side of his partner, the speed skater Claudia Pechstein, he has interfered in the interests of the German Speed Skating Association DESG for more than ten years, there was repeated anger about him, his accreditation at the Olympic Games in Sochi and Pyeongchang was a political issue .
It is fair to say that major conflicts are not to be avoided.
Critics describe his demeanor as intimidating.
The Pechstein case, her doping ban in 2009 and her subsequent struggle to be rehabilitated, first brought the 52-year-old to speed skating, now he is about to dominate German speed skating.
After his appointment as acting president of the DESG, the Berlin entrepreneur created facts and parted ways with the previous national coach Erik Bouwman and sports director Matthias Kulik.
His efforts to tie sponsorship money into the association to his official election as president are also viewed with suspicion.
On September 19, the DESG general assembly will decide whether the big one will also have the say in the years to come.
SPIEGEL:
Mr. Große, you have been acting President of the German Speed Skating Association DESG for two and a half months.
When you took office, critics had doubts about your qualifications.
What qualifies you for the office - besides the fact that you bring money with you?
To person
Matthias Große
, 52, has been provisional director of the German Speed Skating Association DESG since June 18 of this year.
Before that he was considered one of the fiercest critics of the association and repeatedly fought with him in the Claudia Pechstein case.
Pechstein is a big partner, after the doping ban for Pechstein in 2009 they fought for the athlete's rehabilitation.
Große grew up in the GDR and started an officer career in the NVA.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall, he had to reorient himself and is now a real estate entrepreneur.
Große:
I believe that my path in life represents a good qualification.
To have been born and raised in the GDR, to have been left with nothing when the Wall came down and to have now achieved what I have achieved.
I run a healthy company, with a very solid development and meanwhile almost 200 employees.
We develop real estate projects, we are a strong team.
That only works with a clear line and strong leadership.
Since I took office at DESG, I have heard from people there again and again in the many conversations: We want leadership.
They get it.
And to the critics: They are behind the curtain, but there is no one who dares to run as a candidate.
Nobody has yet explained to me what should be bad about DESG getting a new main sponsor who will secure the future of the association.
SPIEGEL:
In those two and a half months, you parted ways with the national coach and the sports director despite ongoing contracts.
You have created a fait accompli, even though the proper presidential election isn't due until September 19th.
You have announced cash payments just in case you get elected.
Don't you feel like you are being blackmailed as a delegate?
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