Jochen Schümann, the team manager of the German Olympic team, has come under fire after his comments on the Olympic qualification. Bild-Hamburg ran the headline: "Olympic dispute! Hagen threatens to sue. Team boss Schümann wants to dispute Hamburg's star sailor's ticket."
A mud fight has broken out. Representatives of the athletes concerned are aiming well below Schümann's belt by insinuating personal interests behind closed doors. The surfer Romy Kinzl, who in his opinion should still be given a chance for the Athens ticket, is a member of Schümann's Berlin-Grünau sports club. As is star boat sailor Ingo Borkowski, who used to sail with Schümann and now sails on the foresheet with Marc Pickel.
"It's not worth talking about such things," Jochen Schümann commented to YACHT online. "In my job as team boss, I feel solely committed to success at the Olympics. I want to see a powerful DSV team at the start in Athens. And to achieve this, it's good to keep the internal elimination process open for as long as possible. That improves performance under pressure. And that's what will count in Athens."
For the Star boats, it is possible to finalise the qualification process at the SPA regatta in Medemblik, as planned. In Schümann's opinion, Marc Pickel has already fulfilled the criteria of the National Olympic Committee with his third place at the Pre-Olympics regatta in Athens, which he failed to fulfil with 18th place at the World Championships. However, he was stripped of the standard after his co-skipper at the time, Tony Kolb, left the boat and Borkowski came on board.
"If the DSV wanted the elimination to remain open until SPA, they would have the option of following my interpretation of the elimination criteria," Schümann believes. "The letters on the paper are certainly open to interpretation." DSV sports director Hans Sendes, however, sees things differently. "I can understand Jochen's desire to go to Athens with the best team possible. But the wording of the criteria gives us no room for manoeuvre. All the lawyers we consulted confirmed this."
Jochen Schümann doesn't believe that. "I'm not attacking the sailors, but the lack of strategy on the part of the association in this matter. I have nothing against Alex. But he should realise that the toughest possible internal competition will also help him for Athens if he qualifies. After all, he is six points ahead of Pickel. It can't be a good sign for young sailors who might want to start a four-year Olympic campaign that a single lucky strike is enough to get a ticket."
The situation is similar for the female surfers. Schümann considers the decision to make amends for the Frenchwoman, which saw Romy Kinzl downgraded from the decisive 12th to 13th place, to be a "joke". It could certainly be argued before the NOK that Kinzl should be given another chance. "Just to keep the competition open," emphasised Schümann once again. "For me, it's not about people, just about improving the performance in Athens."
Marcus Baur and Max Groy would have realised that. They were in a similar situation. Despite taking bronze at the 49er World Championships, the Peckholt brothers forced a second elimination in Medemblik with their sensational eleventh place. Baur/Groy initially wanted to persuade the junior team to forgo the elimination because the regatta did not fit into their programme for Athens. "But then they followed my argument that the further qualification could make them even stronger. I think that's great."
