Dusseldorf – The relocation of the Olympic Games by one year to the summer of 2021 poses a variety of problems and immense challenges for some athletes.
Life planning changes dramatically in part. The planned end of career has to be postponed by twelve months, sponsorship contracts expire, studies, work or training should actually have priority soon. Even family planning is sometimes affected. The German Press Agency gives some examples:
JESSICA STEIGER (27 years / Swim / Gladbeck): The breaststroke howled “first a stanza” when the games were postponed. The 27-year-old from Gladbeck has to change her life planning. “I think that’s how it is with all ‘older’ athletes who want to push their career to the peak and then sit back and relax a bit,” Steiger told WAZ. She is not a medal candidate for Tokyo. But Olympia was her dream, to which she has subordinated almost everything in recent years. Steiger lives mainly from 800 euros of sports aid. Some sponsorship contracts expire in August 2020. After completing her studies in educational science, she had already written applications and wanted to get married in May. Your career plan is messed up. Now she is considering swimming for another year.
TOM GROSCHEL (28 / athletics/marathon / Rostock): “I have meanwhile taken a little distance from the whole topic of running,” says the German marathon champion from 2018 and 2019. He initially hatched from his parents in Mecklenburg. The 28-year-old from Gustrow is initially planning until the Olympics in 2021 and will initially work again as a police officer. «For me, this is currently the more sensible option. I can help there and have another task. Training for competitions in the distant future is absolutely not my thing. »
RICHARD SCHMIDT (32 / rowing / Trier): The athlete from Germany’s eighth rejected his original plan to stop after the Olympics this summer. “I’ve been pulling through for almost four years now, and then I’m going to continue doing that for a year,” said the prospective industrial engineer at TEH. Schmidt has been a part of the eight crew for twelve years and is one of the most experienced rowers in the world as an Olympic champion in London, a six-time world and eight-time European champion. During the training break, he devoted himself more to his doctorate. “I hope that after the Olympic Games in 2021 the economic situation will also recover and the situation on the job market will improve again.”
RONALD RAUHE (38 / Canoe / Potsdam): After the Olympics, Ronald Rauhe’s long career should be over. «Now I have to let that sink and talk to my wife first. That may take a few weeks, »announced the 38-year-old Potsdam Olympic champion. His wife Fanny is also a canoe Olympic champion and shows understanding. But looking after the three and five-year-old sons Leo and Til demands both parents. Rough motivation could be his sixth game. “I worked for four years,” he told the TEH.
KATHARINA STEINRUCK (30 / athletics/marathon / Frankfurt): ponement of the games changes their family planning. The Frankfurt native had practically a safe qualification for Tokyo, but for 2021 there was actually something else in focus: “I will be 31 years old and want to have children,” she told the “TEH”. Her mother and trainer Katrin Dorre-Heinig won Olympic bronze in the marathon in Seoul in 1988. The transfer to the Olympic Games is “hard” for Steinruck, who is married to a police officer, and causes uncertainty. Her ideal idea is to continue her career after a possible baby break. Is that compatible with Olympia 2021?
FRANK STABLER (30 / Ringen / Musberg): After three World Cup titles, the mat fighter wanted to win an Olympic medal again in August 2020 and then retire. He now has to postpone the end of his career by twelve months – because he won’t give up his dream. Because the big competitions for the 30-year-old are always associated with extreme weight loss, it was important for Stabler that his Olympic ticket remained and that he did not have to qualify again. Now he is motivated. “Another year, another chance to get even better. BAMMM … let’s do it, »wrote Stabler on Facebook.
ALINE ROTTER-FOCKEN (28 / Ringen / Krefeld): The experienced athlete is similar to her Ringer buddy Stabler. «Competitive sports & fighting until I am 30? That was definitely never my plan … », she reveals in the social networks. For them, too, Olympia 2020 should have been the last big competition. But now the world champion of 2014 and medal candidates from Tokyo are one year behind. The Krefeld writes on Facebook: “So Olympia 2021? Here we go !! »
MARIUS KUSCH (26 / swimming/eating / San Diego): The swimmer went to the USA on a scholarship in 2016, and has been living in San Diego since early 2019. The life of the 2019 short course European champion, who just missed the Rio games, was completely focused on Tokyo 2020. “The focus was always on the Olympics. That was all the drudgery, »said Kusch, who was born in Datteln,« Focus online ». Now he can train a year longer, sets high goals: “We will use this time to work on as many things as possible, whether these are small technical details or other construction sites.” Financing is a problem because “my main income comes from entry and prize money.” But that is currently not the case. Kusch is now looking for ways to spend a year in the USA and to prepare for the Olympic Games there.
MARTIN HANER / TOBIAS HAUKE (31/32 / Hockey / Berlin / Hamburg): The two hockey Olympic champions wanted to stop in the summer and are now rethinking. Haner works as a doctor in Berlin and is currently in high demand because of Corona. His employer has always been accommodating so far, but it is open whether he will go another year. Hauke from Hamburg has been working in the parents’ commercial company for a long time, and would now have to go another year shorter. Both players are scheduled by the national coach Kais al Saadi, Hauke even as a captain.
FRANZISCA HAUKE / JANNE MULLER-WIELAND (30/33 / hockey / both Hamburg): Hauke’s sister Franzisca, like her brother, won the team bronze in Rio. Olympics 2020 should also be the crowning glory for them. Now, like the 33-year-old captain Janne Muller-Wieland, who lives and works in London, she thinks about adding another year.
PETER JOPPICH / BENJAMIN KLEIBRINK (37/34 / Fechten / Koblenz / Dusseldorf): The two foil fencers can look back on extremely successful careers. Kleibrink became an Olympic champion in Beijing in 2008 and Joppich four times individual world champion. They qualified for the games in Tokyo through the team ranking. The planned end of the career is now postponed. “Both will give everything to be successful next year,” said Sven Ressel, the sports director of the German Fencing Federation, the TEH.
