Sexual Abuse In Swimming: "Coerced Into Sexual Acts Every Day"
The German Swimming Association (DSV) has to deal again with serious allegations of dealing with sexual abuse. In the ARD documentary Abused - Sexualized Violence in German Swimming, the former professional water jumper Jan Hempel speaks publicly for the first time about the most serious sexual assaults to which he is said to have been exposed by his coach during his youth. For years he was abused by his trainer, says Hempel. "He didn't really miss a moment to let his wishes run free."
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It started with touching "until later he forced me to do sexual acts every day," says Hempel in the film. The abuse began when he was eleven years old. He was regularly raped by the trainer - also immediately before a competition at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. At that time, the swimmer was 20 years old. A good 20 years after the suicide of his trainer, he no longer wants to remain silent, says Hempel, who is now 50. As is also described in the documentation, he was recently diagnosed with Alzheimer's. "I think you owe it to others to talk about it in the future."
"Everyone was silent until today"
The 1996 Olympic silver medalist and former vice world champion also made serious allegations against the DSV. He had already informed the association's leadership of the events in 1997, but the association had never dealt with the allegations in substance. The DSV separated from the trainer at the time under the pretext of a Stasi past.
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"Everyone has been silent until today," says Hempel. In particular, he accuses the long-standing DSV top official Lutz Buschkow of having contributed to the fact that his case of abuse was never processed and no lessons were learned for the future. According to the film's authors, Bushkov did not respond to a request for comment. Buschkow had led the DSV as competitive sports director for a long time and is now employed as national trainer for diving.
The documentation highlights several cases of sexualized violence in German swimming. For example, three former swimmers report having been abused by their coach at the club – from the age of 15, 13 and 10 respectively. "His hands were first on the bathing suit, then under the bathing suit, then in the intimate area, on the breasts, everywhere," says one of the women. The trainer, who had meanwhile looked after the youth squad of the DSV, was sentenced to more than four years in prison for years of abusing young swimmers.
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Lurz on the grounds of the Würzburg 05 club
The case of two female members of the DSV delegation who reported internally during the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo that a male member of the association had repeatedly verbally abused them sexually is also described. Although the DSV prevention officer called for consequences according to ARD information, the impression of those affected was that nothing happened. The current DSV leadership around President Marco Troll only said that the man "possibly" violated "good governance rules".
There had already been allegations against the DSV in the past that cases of abuse had not been adequately processed. The most prominent case so far was that of the former open water national coach Stefan Lurz, who has now been sentenced to probation for sexual abuse. The responsible district court in Würzburg confirmed to the ARD that Lurz currently has to refrain from "any professional and voluntary work in connection with swimming" according to the probation conditions.
However, in the documentation, the footage fed to the film team shows Lurz on the premises and in the premises of the Würzburg 05 association. According to internal documents, he is now employed there as a commercial employee.
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