German women's gymnastics has been under tension for months.

Now again from a sporting point of view: Pauline Schäfer is “back in business” - that was her own choice of words after her appearance at the national championships in Dortmund.

Elisabeth Seitz won the championship - with only a tenth of a point ahead of Schäfer - but the Chemnitz woman can also be called the winner of this first Olympic qualification.

On the one hand, because with her 13.95 points on the balance beam, according to the calculations of national coach Ulla Koch, she was the only German starter this weekend to meet the norm for reaching an individual final at the Olympic Games and thus in the fight for the four Tokyo starting places looks great. On the other hand, because in her first competition since the 2019 World Cup, she not only looked physically fit, but above all impressed mentally. Completely focused on yourself and the device, as if there were not only no viewers, but nothing at all around them. She can now be “very satisfied” “after very difficult months”, said Pauline Schäfer, who only passed her final high school diploma last week.

In addition to the long break from competitions and the recently necessary reduction in the scope of training for school reasons, there is another far more significant aspect: It was above all Pauline Schäfer who started the debate about abusive training practices last November with her public description of everyday training in the women's gym of the Chemnitz Olympic base got it rolling in Germany.

Her former trainer Gabriele Frehse was dismissed at the beginning of May after much back and forth.

In Schäfer's former club, the TuS Chemnitz-Altendorf, many continue to support Frehse.

One can assume that not everyone there wished Pauline Schäfer this success.

"Okay, I'll do it!"

Her current trainer Kay-Uwe Temme said it the day after her appearance in Dortmund: “It wasn't just the pressure to want to make the Olympics, but because of the whole story she brought up, it is of course also a bit of a political competition been for her, ”he said. Not least in view of the public pressure, the appearance of the 24-year-old was impressive. "That made her incredibly strong," said Temme.

Kay-Uwe Temme is from Chemnitz.

At the beginning of the nineties he did gymnastics in the Bundesliga team at KTV Chemnitz, for which Schäfer is now also starting.

At the beginning of 2000 he started as a trainer, with young girls in the women's gym under Gabriele Frehse, but only for nine months.

In 2019, when Schäfer had already fallen out with Frehse, but had nevertheless decided to continue living in Chemnitz, a trainer was needed.

Temme was employed by the KTV and was not involved in looking after squad gymnasts like his colleagues from the association: "I was more or less free, and so I said: Okay, I'll do it!" The task was a great attraction for him, said Temme today, but he didn't "jostle".

The switch to women's gymnastics is great.

Especially when it comes to the psyche.

Men are “a little more relaxed, a little cooler,” he said.

“They lean back sometimes, and the girls, who always want to work, do a lot of repetitions, do a lot of work.” Temme's statement inadvertently summed up one of the cultural problems in women's gymnastics: training as much as possible was and is still valid for many today as the key to success.

When it comes to Schäfer's Dortmund appearance, Temme is modest: You have to say that Pauline Schäfer came to him as a fully trained gymnast: “It was all about bringing about certain things again.” And about “that you think, your head around a bit ”.

In other words, that she “stays with herself” in competition.

He got a lot of support from third parties, the women's national team around national coach Ulla Koch and the other coaches had "received him super". Temme's commitment to Pauline Schäfer is currently limited until the hoped-for departure to Tokyo. Did he enjoy it? "Quite honestly, free from the liver: yes, unlikely!" The German Olympic team will be named next weekend. The prospects for Pauline Schäfer are good.