Germans bemoan Olympic medals slide

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Berlin: Germany's dream of dominating the Olympic Games, beating the United States and Russia in the medals table, has turned to a nightmare as the country bemoans a mediocre performance in Sydney.

Germany, Europe's largest and wealthiest country with 82 million people, expected the 1990 merger of communist East Germany and capitalist West Germany to lead to the creation of a lasting Olympic dynasty.

But close finishes behind the US and ex-Soviet/Russian teams in the 1992 and 1996 Games have not been improved upon this year.

As the Games draw to a close, Germany hovers towards the bottom of the top 10 in the medals table, trailing fellow European countries France and Italy.

Bild, the country's best selling newspaper, declared, "We've lost the gene to win."

"How do we get it back?"

Another headline read: "Deutschland = Schlappland" (Germany = Limp Nation).

"Why has Germany collapsed?"

Poorer performance

The mighty East German teams were second, with help from banned performance-enhancing drugs, to the Soviet Union in summer Games in 1976, 1980, and 1988 winning a total of 124 gold medals.

At the same time, West Germany finished between third and fifth, collecting 38 gold medals in the three Olympics.

Merging the two countries has not yielded the results many predicted however.

Germany brought the third largest team to Sydney but have so far (Friday) won just 10 golds and a total of 44 medals after 232 events.

By contrast, the United States have 33 golds and 79 medals."We don't have enough toughness anymore," said Manfred Thiesmann, trainer of the swim team that won just three medals after collecting 12 in Atlanta four years ago.

"Some people go in their pants when they're on the starting blocks."German commentators have been brutal in their criticism of the below-par performance while those associated with the team have been groping for excuses.

Sociologists have also been called in to try to explain why the country's post-unity Olympic promise has not been delivered.

"The German mentality has changed and people are not as excited as they were during the Cold War era about top-level sport as they are in sport just for fun," Hubert Dwertmann, a sport's expert at Hanover University, said.

"Their view is no longer focused on Olympic sports. They're more interested in activities for the masses, like jogging, inline skating, beach volleyball and aerobics."

Dwertmann said Olympics were once an outlet for tensions between the two Germanys during the Cold War.

He added that Germany as a nation has become more relaxed, its inhabitants no longer fitting stereotypes that portray them as excessively industrious, hopelessly obedient and thoroughly focused.

"Even if we didn't meet expectations, we aren't going to let that spoil our joy over the successes we had. They did the best they could," German Sports Minister Otto Schily said.

East German techniques

Critics say Germany's eagerness to distance itself from the doping stigma that dogged East German athletics has worked against itself.

Excellent training methods, coaches and talent scouting systems have been discarded along with less legitimate techniques in the pursuit of excellence, they say.

"It's unfortunate that the East German system was so hastily damned," 200-metre freestyle world record holder Franziska van Almsick said.

"People are just starting to notice now that the sport schools for children and youth weren't so bad after all," she told 'Die Woche' weekly.

"We learned and did everything together as a team. Now everyone is off on their own trip."

Robert Bartko, who won gold in cycling, said East Germany's sport system "was one of the best in the world."

"We've quickly torn that down. The state spends a lot of money on sport, but it's not for high-level sports, but instead for the masses. And there aren't any medals there," he added.



(c) Reuters Limited.