Sometimes the choreography got stuck on this day, which was supposed to represent the great new beginning for German sport. For example, when the chairperson Christa Thiel, formerly head of the swimming association, came to the most important item on the agenda: the election of the new president. “Are there any suggestions?” She asked in the hall of the Weimar Congress Center – and then there was silence. Until Ingo Weiss, basketball boss and spokesman for the national associations, had to take pity on it and did something that has never happened before in the presidential election of a club: He proposed two candidates on behalf of the national associations, Thomas Weikert and Claudia Bokel .
The two had been certain applicants for weeks, cast by a search committee. But somehow such a strange moment fitted the situation at the DOSB. Less than an hour later, Weikert was elected President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) with a very convincing result. The table tennis functionary received 361 votes, 86.6 percent. It wasn’t a surprise. He had been the favorite anyway; his rival could only be switched on due to the Corona circumstances.
Many in sport consider Weikert, 60, because of his balancing nature to be exactly the man who can pacify the DOSB after all these chaotic months. And so he also appeared in Weimar, where he positioned himself as the “team captain of a strong team”. Weikert has a lot of sport-political experience, most recently he was head of the international table tennis association for seven years – but the task that now faces him is enormous. The trenches and the injuries are immense. “I’m a bit overwhelmed, you don’t become DOSB president every day,” he said after the election: “Now we’ll tackle it together and then we’ll make progress.”
“Ms. Baerbock should just leave the church in the village,” says Weikert
But the nice Mr. Weikert can also formulate more sharply, the sport just didn’t feel that on that day. At the press conference after his election, he should take a position on the fact that Foreign Minister-designate Annalena Baerbock was already speaking of a boycott with a view to the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. “Ms. Baerbock should just leave the church in the village, I’ll tell you that very clearly. Boycott has never brought anyone anything,” said Weikert – while at the same time he formulated clear words about the human rights situation in China or Qatar.
Candidate in the DOSB election: Claudia Bokel, President of the German Fencing Association, was connected due to the Corona circumstances.
(Photo: Jan Woitas / dpa)
Sport would like to see this day in Weimar as a new beginning after the turbulent end of the Hörmann era. In some cases this was quite successful because in the end there is not only a new president in office, but also a completely new presidium. The three candidates who were already on the old executive committee received disastrous results. The former Olympic track cycling champion Miriam Welte (377 votes), the former para-athlete Verena Bentele (352), the pediatrician Kerstin Holze (349), the CSU politician Stephan Mayer (257) and Oliver Stegemann (President of the acrobatics Association / 228) to the Presidium. Weikert also wants to reorganize the board of directors – but he leaves it open as to whether other functionaries will have to go in addition to the board chief Veronika Rücker.
At the same time, of course, the Hörmann topic continued to smolder. Because in the affair about the consequences of an anonymous letter (“culture of fear”), about the preparation of reports and legal activities, many questions are still open, including liability law. On Saturday, however, the assembly voted for the discharge of the presidium and the board of directors, whereby the DOSB interpreted this to mean that this would only relate to the activities in 2020. Hörmann, who was not present on medical advice after a corona illness, like Rücker, and his previous deputy Kaweh Niroomand promised a “complete” clarification of all events from the past six months. An external lawyer is now to be appointed for this. The plan is for the ethics committee to choose one.
CSU man Mayer is elected. It is not at all clear whether he will also be allowed to exercise the office
At the same time, there is a person in Weikert’s new Presidium that offers great potential for tension for several reasons: the CSU man Mayer. Four weeks ago he was a candidate for president himself, but withdrew after his presentation to the member associations – according to his statements, so as not to deepen the rifts in sport. In addition, although he accepted his election as Vice President on Saturday, he is officially not allowed to exercise this function at all. He has been State Secretary in the Federal Ministry of the Interior, which is also responsible for sport, since 2017. In such cases, a special body of the federal government must first grant permission, and this is not yet available. It shouldn’t be ready until the beginning of January, said Mayer.
Aside from legal matters, there is also the political and moral question of whether it is appropriate for someone to change sports-political side so quickly. The chairman of the Berlin State Sports Federation, Thomas Härtel, openly formulated the concerns about Mayer on stage, who also did not achieve a good result. But the CSU man has powerful allies on his side; In the background, it was above all the members of ball sports such as basketball President Weiss and the football puller Rainer Koch who stood up for him.
That could lead to interesting constellations in the presidium. Especially since Weikert and his management board are only elected for one year. They have to be confirmed again in December 2022.