The dispute over the Olympic ticket in the 470 women's discipline has been settled. On Wednesday morning, the Hamburg Regional Court dismissed Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke's application for an interim injunction against the German Sailing Association (DSV).
Tina Lutz and Susann Beucke filed their application for an injunction on 8 March because they felt they had been disadvantaged in the national elimination series during the Sailing World Championships in Perth, Australia. Lutz lawyer Michael Lehner told YACHT after the judgement: "None of this is fair. We will now study the judgement and discuss whether we want to keep the door open with a possible appeal in view of the upcoming World Championship."
There was relief on the part of the defendant German Sailing Association (DSV). DSV President Rolf-Otto Bähr said: "The judgement is good and important for the sport - we have our fair basis back, which was first confirmed by an international World Championship jury and now also by a German court. This puts the sport back on the right track, because it was definitely burdened by this case." Bähr's message to the losers: "We hope that they will now accept the judgement. We have recognised that they were the ones who sailed to the important national starting place and we will continue to support them. These are talented girls that we need for competitive sport."
Following the judgement, Hamburg's Kathrin Kadelbach and Friederike Belcher remain the only team proposed to the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) for nomination in the women's 470 two-handed discipline. Kathrin Kadelbach said: "We were always sure that we had acted in accordance with the rules. Now the matter is hopefully off the table once and for all."
After half a year of bitter dispute, helmswoman Kathrin Kadelbach made her younger opponents an offer of reconciliation after the court judgement: "If the girls want to, we would be happy if they came with us to Weymouth and were our sparring partners there."
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
