The German Swimming Federation (DSV – Deutscher Schwimmverband) has announced plans to install a “Team Tokyo 2020” instead of a new head coach for the swimming division. The news was announced one day after the resignation of Henning Lambertz, who was in this position for nearly 6 years.
Thomas Kurschilgen, director of competitive sports in the DSV, outlined a “Team Tokyo 2020”, which consists of a team of trainers and additional field specific experts in the field of health management, training and nutrition science.
“Our top priority is to support all potential candidates optimally on their way to the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. The existing know-how will be bundled in a synergistic working-competence team. Team Tokyo 2020 will be a partnership based on trust, innovation, and competence, “said Kurschilgen.
The tasks of head coach Henning Lambertz are thus distributed upon several shoulders – chosen from the circle of the head coaches of the federal training centers and the coaches of the country’s most successful athletes.
For the substantive control of the national teams, there will be a leading coach within the Team Tokyo 2020. The responsibilities for the German relays also will be be reassigned. The leadership of the national teams at international championships will be carried out according to the American model: A head coach will be selected from the coaching team and he or she will lead the sports-related process in close feedback with the director of competitive sports.
In addition, there is a professional team management, which organizes all logistical and relevant management processes of the national men’s and women’s team. In the medical-physiotherapeutic area, expert teams will be appointed to oversee the central training camp activities and international championship participation. The scientific training support is organized by the specialists of the Institute for Applied Scientific Training (IAT) in Leipzig and the National Olympic Base (OSP) in Hamburg.
“With these changes, we put the most promising athletes and their coaches in the center of our actions, through a competence-oriented leadership and communication. We are convinced that we will create a powerful German National Team for the 2019 World Championships (LC) in South Korea and the Olympic Games 2020 “, Kurschilgen described the realignment.
In the official press release of the DSV on the resignation of Henning Lambertz, both personal reasons and the resignation of DSV President Gabi Dörries on December 8th were given as Lambertz’s main motives to give up his job. In an interview with the “Deutschlandfunk” Henning Lambertz added, however, that he had fundamental disagreements with Thomas Kurschilgen (Director of competitive sports in the DSV) about the development of the department swimming until the 2020 Olympics. He confirmed in the interview that he saw the installation of a Team Tokyo as a disempowerment. He had not agreed with Kurschilgen on the reorientation of the DSV. Lambertz said in the interview that he would also have been unwilling, with less decision-making powers, continue to take responsibility for the results of the German swimmers at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. He summarized that the combination of his personal reasons, the resignment of Gabi Dörries and the introduction of “Team Tokyo 2020” have been the reasons for his withdrawal.