For the beach volleyball player Karla Borger, President of the Athleten Deutschland association, the founding of an independent center for safe sports will be “high priority”.

The allegations of abuse by the former water jumper Jan Hempel against his long-time trainer, which became public through an ARD documentary, "shook her", said Borger.

"That disgusts me."

She has “great respect for the courage of those affected”.

She believes that "this development, giving the stories a face and talking about them" is very important.

The documentary “Abused”, which ARD broadcasts on Saturday (10.40 p.m.), explains “what is happening in the background”.

The German Swimming Association (DSV) released national water jump coach Lutz Buschkow from his job on Thursday evening.

Hempel, now 50 years old, said Buschkow had known about the allegations against Hempel's coach Werner Langer since 1997, but had not filed a criminal complaint.

Langer, who took his own life in 2001, was released over the years because of his Stasi past, not because of abuse.

Buschkow denies having known about the allegations.

"Sad and Shameful"

You take him “out of the fire here, which initially represents a presumption of innocence.

As long as these allegations are not checked, he at least has no more tasks to perform in the DSV," said association president Marco Troll: "We are shocked by this content, which we heard today for the first time in this form." Buschkow has been working since 1991 for the DSV, since 2002 was as head coach.

From 2008 to 2016 he was also director of competitive sports.

Hempel explained in the film that from the age of eleven Langer had sexually assaulted him every day for 14 years, during the 1992 Olympic Games immediately before a competition.

The DSV never dealt with the allegations in substance.

Hempel's long-time competition partner Heiko Meyer said: “I knew this happened.

But to what an extent, it struck me too,” said Meyer, who won Olympic bronze in tower synchronized diving with Hempel in 2000.

"It's incredibly sad and shameful." He suspects "that certain people will now fight back".

It is correct that the public is informed: "Also to protect others."