Robert Harting at the European Athletics Championships 2018 in Berlin
Photo: KAI PFAFFENBACH / REUTERS
The Olympic champion brothers Robert and Christoph Harting have reconciled after five years of strife and resentment and celebrated Christmas together again.
"I invited Christoph to my house, we were together with my wife Julia, our twins, our parents and grandma Renate," said Robert Harting of "Bild am Sonntag" in a double interview.
The 2012 Olympic discus champion in London is six years older than his brother Christoph, who surprisingly won gold in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro.
For five years, the native of Lusatia had not exchanged a single word with each other, and their parents in particular suffered from the conflict between brothers.
"We didn't even say 'hello' to each other," reported 31-year-old Christoph Harting - not even at Christmas.
"No, we avoided each other."
A joint TV appearance in March apparently broke the ice and initiated reconciliation. For the first time since 2016, the two celebrated Christmas together again. “I was really looking forward to it. It is a great relief, especially for our parents, to see us together again now. Like all of us, you suffered a lot from this situation, ”said Christoph Harting, who has disappointed internationally since his Olympic victory in Rio and no longer had any great success in the discus ring.
The reconciliation was preceded by open and honest words, as the two Berliners now revealed - and an apology.
"Back then, we first met alone and talked for almost two hours, and later together with the family," said Robert Harting.
“Everyone at the dinner table could get rid of their worries.
With a certain degree of maturity, we primarily cleared up the misunderstandings that third parties had always contributed to and influenced us.
And: Above all, we apologized to each other. "
Christoph Harting has also jumped over his shadow after years of irreconcilability.
“Two or three things had to be cleared up, but otherwise we made sure not to bring the old stories to the table.
We just set everything to zero, sort of a reset, ”he said.
And the older brother promised: 'I'll leave Christoph where he is now;
in his world, with his rules of life, and we're doing pretty well with it.
We don't let anyone else talk us into this, "said 37-year-old Robert Harting.
ara / dpa
