As a newly elected member of the Bundestag, Biathlon Olympic champion Frank Ullrich wants to put sports funding on his agenda.
“We have very big boards to drill,” said the SPD politician to the sports information service on Monday: “In my opinion, the appreciation for sport has been extremely lost, so we have to set the tone.
I have big plans for that. "
The corona pandemic has worsened the current situation again. "We also have to set the tone from the federal government and cannot pass everything on to the federal states," said the former national coach in biathlon and cross-country skiing. In a task that affects society as a whole, one has to “bridge the gap from school and youth sports to grassroots and competitive sports”; this is the only way that Sport Germany can be “more successful again internationally”.
Ullrich won the direct mandate for the 20th Bundestag on Sunday.
According to the preliminary final result, the 63-year-old prevailed in electoral district 196 in southern Thuringia with 33.6 percent of the vote, clearly ahead of CDU right-wing winger Hans-Georg Maaßen (22.3).
This will be the first time that Ullrich will be represented in parliament, he is one of two Olympic champions in the legislative body of the Federal Republic of Germany.
As in 2017, the former professional track cyclist Jens Lehmann (CDU) successfully won his direct mandate.
The 53-year-old Olympic champion in the team time trial from 1992 and 2000 prevailed in Leipzig (constituency 152) with 20.5 percent, ahead of SPD candidate Holger Mann (20.2).
The most successful German winter Olympian Claudia Pechstein (49), who stood for the first time for the CDU on Sunday, had to vote in constituency 84 in Berlin Treptow-Köpenick with 13.5 percent of the vote against long-time MP Gregor Gysi (Die Linke / 35.4) beaten.
Their hope of moving into the Bundestag above sixth place on the CDU state list was also dashed.