How do you turn your own talk about a new beginning into a phrase in no time at all, how do you raise doubts about the claim to further develop the DOSB into a modern, honest and transparent association?

Thomas Weikert, who has been President of the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) for a year, demonstrated this on Saturday when he was re-elected at the general meeting in Baden-Baden.

Anno Hecker

Responsible editor for sports.

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Michael Reinsch

Correspondent for sports in Berlin.

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He and his executive committee wanted to strengthen and live the unity of sport and associations, he announced, and everyone understood what he meant: the opposite of the behavior of his predecessor Alfons Hörmann, who last year decided to resign from the management of the deeply insecure and divided association saw forced.

Weikert said he wanted to apologize for the mistrust of individuals.

When Martin Engelhardt, medical director of a large clinic and president of the triathlon association, took the floor, it became clear that this was not enough.

He reported that the DOSB kept "enemy lists" in the Hörmann era and collected material: "All of us who are affected know very well that the values ​​of sport and decency have not been taken into account and lived to an alarming extent ", he said.

Engelhardt said that when he once criticized Hörmann's public attack on a member of the board, the latter "smashed" him in a way he had never experienced in his life.

Engelhardt decided, together with other presidents of professional associations, to look for a successor and collect votes for it.

In connection with a published protocol note, Hörmann sued Engelhardt on behalf of the DOSB (unsuccessfully).

On Saturday in Baden-Baden coram publico, the DTU President did not forget to mention that the lawsuit was signed by Veronika Rücker, Chairwoman of the Board at the time, and Thomas Arnold, who remained on the Executive Committee.

700,000 euros for lawsuits and analyses

All in all, as the report of a specially appointed investigation commission found, Hörmann and those in his presidency who were in the know spent 700,000 euros on lawsuits and analyses, including language reports intended to determine the authorship of the anonymous letter , which triggered Hörmann's resignation last year.

Engelhardt complained that this amount was unacceptable, and that it was not enough to establish that this was not relevant under criminal law.

He combined his call for transparency and openness in the new era with pointing out that the ethics committee, headed by former Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière, had had to deal with anonymous letters again.

Everyone in the room knows its contents, he said.

One of the letters is about Weikert.

But the new head of the DOSB saw no reason to get involved in the topic.

Whether others had apologized to Engelhardt, said Weikert, was not "his beer".

Diagonally behind him on the stage, board member Thomas Arnold laid out his documents in order to then present the financial report of the DOSB.

He answered Engelhardt just as little as President Weikert before him responded to the request to comment on the anonymous allegations against him.

With 37 dissenting votes, from the state sports associations alone, Hörmann's presidency was relieved in its last year, 2020/2021.

401 delegates voted yes.

"It's very disappointing," said the CEO of a large state sports association.

He had wished for at least a big signal from the general meeting under a presidency that had proclaimed a new era of transparency, decency and honesty.

Only four dissenting votes

The vote was the official end of an affair that apparently did not affect nine tenths of the delegates.

Swam over it.

With only four dissenting votes, including Engelhardt's, the general meeting elected Weikert in the afternoon.

She elected Verena Bentele, Kerstin Holze, Jens-Peter Nettekoven, Oliver Stegemann and Miriam Welte to its presidency;

Fabienne Königstein was confirmed as the athletes' representative and Stefan Raid for the sports youth.

In his speech, Weikert expressed doubts that every anonymous letter to the ombudsman or ethics committee should show abuses.

Rather, he had the impression that this – and he was speaking of allegations against himself – was being pursued in order to bring unrest to the reconstruction.

Nevertheless, he promised, every anonymous letter should be treated seriously.

The DOSB does not want to be dissuaded from the path of transparency.

Thomas De Maizière, chairman of the ethics committee and former interior minister, was even clearer.

After establishing that there were no objections to the candidates and therefore also to Weikert, he expressed that dealing with anonymous allegations bothered him.

He is discussing with the Presidium how this should be dealt with in the future.

It should be common practice to bring allegations openly.

In rare cases, such as when the victim of sexual violence speaks up, anonymity is justifiable.

Sport should create a climate in which there is no need for anonymous letters.

The assembly voted unanimously to start a strategy process for a possible bid for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Germany.