National hockey player Hauke: "I wanted to experience this as long as possible"

Are you very disappointed that you did not become a standard bearer?

Carrying the flag at the Olympics for your own country is the greatest honor one can have as an athlete.

I was proud that I was available for selection in this illustrious group.

You are starting your fourth game, you have already won two golds (2008 and 2012) and one bronze (2016).

What distinguished these medal years and what did the current team?

The teams were very different.

On the one hand in terms of character, on the other hand hockey has changed enormously.

In Beijing in 2008 with me as the youngest player, we were an absolute workers team, we got through struggle, attitude and mentality.

In 2012 we were, I would like to say, the almost perfect team.

We weren't the 16 best friends, but we all had the same goal and set off together.

In 2016 it was more difficult because we had young and old on the team, but there was no mid-level staff.

But experience and ease have carried us through the tournament for a long time.

Which year is the current selection related to?

With the 2012 troop.

We are a very committed team again, also due to the Corona period.

With the change of coach, something has changed in terms of mentality.

The age structure also covers everything equally from young to old.

From the unity it feels like 2012. Not everything works by a long way, but the understanding and feeling for one another on the pitch is very pronounced.

We have worked for that.

After the 2016 Olympics and into 2020 we weren't as strong as we were used to.

We have invested a lot to change that again.

Could a changed mentality simply be imposed on the team by the new national coach Kais al Saadi?

No, but a change of coach usually goes hand in hand with a change in all kinds of staff, a different approach and new hierarchical lines in the team.

That meant that we communicated more honestly and critically.

You have to get to the bottom of things - where it hurts.

That has happened in the past year and a half.

There are currently few sheets of paper between us.

What specific prospects do you derive from this for Tokyo?

Golden?

There are no certainties when it comes to the level of performance in international hockey.

The only thing you can do is: get yourself into the condition with which you can beat any opponent.

We did it.

The squad prepared itself in Mannheim in the winter under an air dome, completely sealed off.

In a small sport like hockey, the feeling didn't arise: What for and for whom are we actually doing this?

At first we struggled with ourselves about what was justifiable, also vis-à-vis society.

That we can go to Mannheim to train for the Olympic Games, which may not even take place.

We then quickly drew a lot of strength from the privilege of being able to pursue our sport.

So each of us was able to add the shovel necessary before the Olympics in terms of discipline and training energy.

This team has been in Olympic mode for almost two years at a high pace.

Usually this is only done for a year.

Other top nations have been pulling their cadres together centrally for months, but the successes still prove the decentralized German system to be right. Where does it come from?