Germany on top in big sports year

BERLIN (Reuters) -- The German economy is falling apart, unemployment is rising, taxes are going up, government services are being cut and beer prices are climbing.

Thank goodness, then, for sport.

Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has had little to rejoice about lately with the country languishing below its growth potential but in terms of sporting achievement, it has been a remarkable year for Germany.

The rest of the world may have grown tired of hearing the German anthem played whenever Michael Schumacher claimed another of his record-breaking 11 Grand Prix victories this year or every time Germany took one of their 35 medals at the Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.

But it was music to the ears of German fans and a government that had invested heavily in that success.

"The year 2002 will go down in German sports history as an exceptionally successful year," said Interior Minister Otto Schily, whose responsibilities cover sport.

His government has spent US$790 million on supporting elite sportsmen and women and building state-of-the art training facilities in the last four years, an increase of 17 percent over the previous four years.

"Crowning it all, Germany took first place at the Winter Olympics and the Paralympics -- grandiose accomplishments," he added. "The list of triumphs beyond that is very long indeed."

Alongside Schumacher and the Olympic team, the German soccer team unexpectedly woke up from a crisis of belief to make the World Cup final, the basketball team ended up an astonishing third at the world championship and the handball team came second in their world championship.

Ski jumper Sven Hannawald became the first man to win all four legs of the prestigious Four Hills tournament and was the world ski flying champion and Germans led by Franziska van Almsick dominated the European swimming championships.

Two German soccer clubs, Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund, reached the finals of Europe's top tournaments, the Champions League and UEFA Cup respectively

Theories abound

There are a number of theories about why it was such a memorable sports year for competitors between the Baltic Sea and the Black Forest. Some believe the long-awaited but long-unfulfilled "unification bonus" is finally kicking in after the merger of two strong sports nations in 1990.

Others say the high level of facilities, trainers and public support in Germany plays an important role as well. Some point out that with 82 million people, Germany is not only western Europe's most populous nation, it is also the richest -- and thus should be a sports power based on its size and wealth.

"I would say it is probably a combination of all these elements," said Udo Martens, senior lecturer in sport sociology at England's Brighton University.

"Some of the parts of the East German sporting dynasty have been adopted by reunited Germany," he added. "The government funding has remained high, the facilities and infrastructure are generally quite good and sport has high standing among the public."

Martens said the success at the Winter Olympics illustrated many of those points. Nearly half of Germany's medal winners came from the eastern state of Thuringia, one of the country's poorest regions that is nevertheless blessed with top facilities.

"Because it is a poor state, many view sport as a form of upward social mobility," he said. "Successful sportsmen and women have a very high public standing in Germany."

Van Almsick, who staged a remarkable comeback with five golds and a world record for the 200 meters freestyle at the European championships, has long been used in national campaigns by advertizers.

But even in comparatively minor sports such as speed skating, Olympic champions like Claudia Pechstein are turned into national idols by advertizers.

The East German model -- where resources were concentrated on a small number of the most promising performers -- is being increasingly duplicated in united Germany, Martens said.

"The East German attitude was: we only need a small number of top competitors because there are only three medals available. The money in Germany is now being devoted to a smaller pool of competitors in a similar fashion."

Teshnical know-how

Rolf Scholz, director of the Cologne University sports institute, said an important factor was the high level of organization in Germany.

"The successes this year show that the sport organization in Germany works pretty well by and large," Scholz said. "There is enough funding for optimal training conditions. There is a smooth transfer of technical know-how to the end users."

He added that Germany was a world leader in research.

"Germany and the United States are world leaders in training science research," Scholz said. "Expert scientists in different fields cooperate closely and regularly share their findings."

But the sport science used in communist East Germany, in particular doping, had long since been repudiated, he said.

"There were hardly any training methods adopted from the East Bloc," he said. "On the contrary, the current trend is towards less training, the opposite of the practice towards ever more training in East Germany."

Germany had a remarkable run at the Winter Olympics, taking first place in the medals table with 35 medals, including 12 gold. That was eight more than the 27 medals Germany won in 1998 in Nagano. In 1994 Germany was third behind Russia and Norway.

Alongside Schumacher's record-equalling fifth Formula One title in a season totally dominated by the driver and his Ferrari team, the German football team surprised the world -- and themselves -- by going all the way to the World Cup final before losing 2-0 to Brazil.

"That was probably more luck than anything else," said Scholz in Cologne. But Martens in Brighton pointed out that the top German domestic league, the Bundesliga, had more nationals playing as regulars in the big clubs than the major leagues in England, France, Spain or Italy.

"It was a surprise but you still have the sense that Germany is still a pretty good football nation because there are still many Germans playing in the domestic league," he said.

As far as Schumacher is concerned, Germany has plenty of training facilities for motor racing -- three circuits suitable for Formula One and thousands of kilometers of motorways without a speed limit.

 

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