The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Former world-class water jumper Hempel accuses coach of rape "In the end you let it go"

2022-08-18T12:35:24.646Z


He won silver and bronze at the Olympic Games, and now ex-water jumper Jan Hempel has made serious allegations. His former coach is said to have sexually abused him - even immediately before a competition.


Enlarge image

Water jumper Hempel at the 1997 European Championships in Seville

Photo: IMAGO / Laci Perenyi

Former world-class water jumper Jan Hempel has made massive allegations of abuse against a former coach.

“I was abused by my trainer.

He actually never missed a moment not to let his wishes and needs run free," said Hempel in the ARD documentary "Abused - Sexualized Violence in German Swimming", which will be broadcast on Saturday (10:40 p.m., here is the documentary already seen ).

During his career, Hempel won four European championship titles and numerous other medals.

He won bronze at the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000 and silver in Barcelona in 1996.

According to Hempel, a particularly shocking attack occurred at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona.

Immediately before the competition, his trainer raped him in a toilet at the competition site.

The accused can no longer comment on the allegations, he committed suicide in 2001.

No evidence of the allegations is presented in the documentation, but an anonymous witness reports that the coach attempted to assault him.

Hempel himself is now suffering from Alzheimer's.

»I notice that more and more is disappearing from my head.

I can remember it now and I don't know how much longer it will be.«

"Everyone was silent"

Hempel reports that the abuse dragged on from 1982 to 1996.

At the beginning he was touched by his trainer, later oral abuse and rape followed.

"In the beginning it was once a month, later almost every day," says Hempel.

"In the end you put up with it."

Nine months after winning the silver medal in Atlanta, Hempel says he informed the association about the abuse.

The DSV then separated from the coach, but did not publish the real reason for this step.

According to Hempel, no charges were filed.

"Everyone was silent," says Hempel.

"Only sporting success is important to the DSV," he says.

"It's just going over corpses." According to Hempel, today's head national coach Lutz Buschkow was also informed about the allegations, but did nothing to work through them.

The DSV has not yet responded to a request from SPIEGEL for a statement on the allegations.

Buschkow has not yet responded to an email either.

According to the documentation, the association had informed the ARD that the current board had not known anything about it so far.

More abuse cases

The documentary reports of further incidents of abuse in swimming.

A former competitive swimmer from Berlin describes how a club manager pretended to be a French swimmer and wrote him salacious messages.

He filed a complaint, but the case was dropped.

There were also no consequences for a young coach from NRW, who is said to have molested several swimmers.

In the case of a trainer from Bavaria, which three women reported anonymously, there was a verdict: four years in prison and a five-year professional ban.

German swimming has long been the focus of attention due to abuse cases.

In 2021, DER SPIEGEL made allegations against former open water national coach Stefan Lurz public.

The allegations involved sexual assault, psychological manipulation and bullying of swimmers.

In February of this year, Lurz was sentenced to six months in prison on probation for sexual abuse and had to pay a fine.

During a three-year probationary period, Lurz is not allowed to work professionally or on a voluntary basis in swimming.

ARD has now reported that Lurz works as a commercial clerk at the Würzburg 05 swimming club, where his brother Stefan Lurz is president.

The club confirmed this to SPIEGEL on request.

Lurz is therefore active in the commercial areas of the association: "He coordinates the purchase of goods for the beer garden and is responsible for the adventure golf park." Lurz therefore plans the appropriate personnel, draws up financial plans, posts receipts, checks pay slips and markets this area.

This position has existed since the beginning of February.

»There is absolutely no contact with athletes.

Mr. Stefan Lurz has no authority whatsoever with regard to sport in the club," it says.

His professional activity was also coordinated with the probation service.

Source: spiegel

All sports articles on 2022-08-18

You may like

Sports 2024-02-16T21:40:26.567Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.