After the allegations of abuse by the former world-class water jumper Jan Hempel, 51, against his former coach became known, further cases were reported to the German Swimming Association. “There are still cases every day. I can’t say how many,” said DSV competitive sports director Christian Hansmann on Sunday at the European Championships in Rome. “Many injured parties and victims have contacted our prevention officer. This means that everything is now being compiled and documented in order to show how we deal with it internally.” Hansmann emphasized that all cases are being investigated.
In a documentary by ARD entitled “Abused – Sexualized Violence in German Swimming”, Hempel, the Olympic silver medalist in Atlanta in 1996, reported in moving words on allegations of sexual abuse against his former coach Werner Langer, who has died in the meantime. From 1982 to 1996 he was repeatedly sexually abused by Langer. In 1997, Hempel said he informed the national coach at the time about the incident. He accuses the German Swimming Association of having handled the situation incorrectly at the time. As early as Thursday, the DSV then temporarily released the water jump national coach Lutz Buschkow, who had already worked for the DSV in 1997 and, according to Hempel, knew about the allegations, but did nothing.
Do associations face financial consequences if they do not act?
“Of course, the allegations are very serious. We examine them both internally and with external advice,” said Hansmann. He referred to numerous offers from the association for those affected. “We have to make sure that it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “We are in the process of revolutionizing coach training, bringing this topic of sexualized violence into play from the state to the federal level.” Hansmann added: “There must be mandatory training for employees in the DSV. There are already a number of offers. We must now push this even harder and make it mandatory to prevent it and not let it happen again.”
Meanwhile, politicians are increasing the pressure and threatening to cut public funding. At least that’s what Mahmut Özdemir (SPD), the parliamentary state secretary responsible for sport in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, in a contribution to the ARD sports show published on Sunday. An association that does not adhere to the requirements and conditions for funding, “that tolerates, does not clarify, covers up sexualised violence, doping or other interpersonal violence – such associations should not receive a cent from tax funds,” said Özdemir, but without the DSV specifically one to blame for these things. DSV sports director Christian Hansmann had previously said on the sidelines of the European Swimming Championships in Italy that there could be consequences for the association, such as financial cuts: “Of course, that is to be feared.”