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“Schalke 05” – a harmless slip of the tongue made Carmen Thomas famous
On July 21, 1973, Carmen Thomas made a slip of the tongue in the “Aktuelle Sportstudio”.
© ZDF
A simple slip of the tongue made her famous: Carmen Thomas is still known today for speaking of “Schalke 05” in the “Aktuelle Sportstudio” in 1973. The faux pas did not harm her herself.
February 3, 1973 was a historic day on German television: it was the first time a woman hosted a sports program. Carmen Thomas welcomed the viewers to the “Aktuelle Sportstudio” on ZDF that evening.
And was exposed to severe criticism from the start. Women and football – in the limited view of many men at the time, these were worlds that had nothing to do with each other. And so the young journalist was faced with strong headwinds from the start, especially from the tabloid press.
The “image” shot at Carmen Thomas
The “Bild am Sonntag” had already written its smack in advance before Thomas went on the air for the second time. However, the presenter knew how to defend herself: she read out the already formulated criticism of the live broadcast in the “Sportstudio”. “You don’t need to look today because a major German newspaper already knows what I’ll be like today,” she quipped at the time.
In doing so, she had made a powerful enemy. When she made a harmless mistake almost six months later, on July 21, 1973 – she said “FC Schalke 05” instead of “FC Schalke 04” – the “Bild” newspaper saw her chance. However, not immediately: only 18 days later did the tabloid publish the story of the slip of the tongue on front page 1. The newspaper also claimed that Carmen Thomas had been fired.
Many remember the story today as if the “Schalke 05” blunder ended their time at the “Sportstudio”. But that’s wrong: Carmen Thomas moderated the program for another year and a half before she switched to WDR, where she had sued for a permanent position.
The 74-year-old sees her faux pas positively: “I was often interviewed by the slip of the tongue and looked in the mirror. I didn’t think that was good enough. Began to learn and teach systematically and started to become a coach and author as early as 1975. “
Today, the “Aktuelle Sportstudio” is moderated by women and men
It was to be a long time before other women moderated the ZDF sports program: from 1980 to 1981, Sissy de Mas and the Dutchwoman Joan Haanappel presented the “Sportstudio” together, from 1984 Doris Papperitz took over the command a total of 55 times. Christine Reinhart moderated from 1993 to 1995.
Today there is complete gender parity: there are four moderators, two men and two women, who alternately lead through the “Aktuelle Sportstudio”. Carmen Thomas paved the way for them.