DFormer diver Jan Hempel wants to sue the German Swimming Association (DSV) for millions in damages and damages. This is reported by the sports show on Sunday. In the ARD documentary, Hempel, 51, accused his late coach of years of sexual abuse. The lawsuit is said to have about 1,200 cases.
“The organization of the German Swimming Association has completely failed in monitoring and controlling their coaches,” Hempel’s lawyer Thomas Summerer told Sportschau: “There was only a cover-up. This organizational error means that the association is responsible.”
Hempel himself did not want to comment on the planned lawsuit, which, according to information from the sports show, should be filed with the district court in Kassel (DSV) or Dresden (responsible for Hempel’s hometown of Meissen). Lawyer Summerer, who has also been fighting speed skater Claudia Pechstein for years for damages following an allegedly unfounded doping ban, stressed: “We will do it even if it takes ten years.”
The Hempel case made headlines in the summer of 2022. In the documentary Violence, the four-time European champion and 1996 Olympic silver medalist spoke about sexual harassment, including during the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. According to Hempel, the head of the association informed him about the events in 1997.
Source: Frantfurter Allgemeine
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