Sports policy: SPD politician Frank Ullrich leaves office on the Nada supervisory board

Enlarge image

Frank Ullrich, Chairman of the Sports Committee in the German Bundestag

Photo: IMAGO/Thomas Trutschel/photothek.de / IMAGO/photothek

After allegations in connection with doping in the GDR, the chairman of the Bundestag sports committee and biathlon Olympic champion, Frank Ullrich, is retiring from his position on the supervisory board of the National Anti-Doping Agency (Nada).

He wanted to "weigh the criticism, which he considered inappropriate, for himself and let the office at Nada rest during this time," said the SPD politician on Wednesday.

The allegations should "neither harm the office nor damage the trust of doping victims".

The "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" had previously quoted documents from the GDR State Security, in which the former medical officer of the German Skiing Association of the GDR (DSLV), Hans-Joachim Kampf, is said to have noted in July 1985 that Ullrich and 20 other athletes between October 1985 and January 1986 with the testosterone preparation Oral-Turinabol should be doped.

Offer of talks by the SED Victims' Representative in the Bundestag

The SPD politician confirmed on Wednesday that as an active athlete and also as a trainer he "himself knowingly had no contact with doping substances".

»And yet I was part of a sporting system that was sometimes difficult for us athletes to understand.

The Stasi file of the association doctor who was responsible for me shows this," Ullrich admitted.

'I can't make sense of my name in it.

Especially since I was no longer an active athlete in the period specified there." At the same time, it is clear that this raises questions "that are difficult to reconcile with my position at the National Anti-Doping Agency".

Ullrich accepted the offer from the German Bundestag's SED victim commissioner, Evelyn Zupke, to talk to her.

»I will also look for an exchange with people affected by doping together with her.

Ultimately, this is an opportunity to shed more light on the GDR sports system and the role we played in it.

The talks will also help determine where we can better support doping victims," ​​he said.

Zupke had previously criticized the personnel on Deutschlandfunk: “All these points that are now being discussed – finally – should have been discussed before he was nominated as a top candidate in the constituency.

Then you should have discussed: Does he have to be a member of the sports committee?

And does he have to be chairman?

And does he now also have to become a member of the Nada Supervisory Board?

That also makes this organization a bit unbelievable,” she said.

Ullrich has been chairman of the sports committee in the Bundestag since mid-December, which is automatically entitled to a place on the Nada supervisory board based on the statutes.

The CDU and CSU had already submitted an application for the SPD politician to be dismissed at the beginning of the week.

“Anyone who sits on the board of directors of an organization whose primary purpose is the fight against doping must have no doubts about their own doping-related history.

This is not the case with Frank Ullrich,” it says.

In the constitutive meeting of the sports committee, however, Ullrich was elected chairman by the 19 members with 18 votes in favor and one abstention.

Doping allegations against Ullrich had been known for many years.

A commission of the German Ski Association came to the conclusion in 2009 that Ullrich "neither instructed the use of doping substances nor administered them to athletes himself, nor did he monitor or control their use" during the GDR era.

The DSV therefore saw no reason for labor or service law steps or sport-political consequences against the national coach at the time.

Frank Ullrich celebrated great international successes in GDR sport, both as a player and as a trainer.

In biathlon, he was world champion several times and Olympic champion in 1980, and also won two silver medals (1980) and one bronze medal (1976).

From 1987 to 1990 he coached the GDR selection.

After reunification, Ullrich was a national coach in biathlon and cross-country skiing for several years.

He moved into the German Bundestag for the first time in 2021.

ara/dpa