In the case of the abused former world-class water jumper Jan Hempel, the German Swimming Association wants to prevent a possible claim for damages. One is in an “intensive exchange” with Hempel’s lawyer Thomas Summerer and is “trying to find an amicable solution for all parties and thus avert a lengthy legal dispute,” said the DSV at the request of the ARD. Accordingly, the association submitted a “concrete offer” in order to find a solution “promptly”. The top management of the association thus followed a recommendation from the independent review commission that the DSV had set up in the course of the “Causa Hempel”.
According to ARD information, the DSV has not yet made any proposals for specific compensation payments. An independent arbitrator should work out possible solutions. The DSV did not want to officially comment on these points. However, the association generally excludes compensation payments with reference to non-profit law.
According to his manager Oliver Hillebrecht, Hempel had given DSV a deadline in the dispute over compensation for pain and suffering in the millions because of years of abuse by his coach. If the DSV does not respond to the five different offers submitted with a serious answer by June 6th, it will go to court. According to ARD, Hillebrecht received the current offer from DSV on Monday. “We have to examine the offer,” said the lawyer.
In August last year, Hempel made public the allegations of sexual abuse against his coach Werner Langer, who died in 2001, in an ARD documentary entitled “Abused – Sexualized Violence in German Swimming”. Accordingly, Langer had passed from 1982 to 1996 at the Olympic silver medalist in Atlanta in 1996. In the film, Hempel accused the DSV of knowing about the allegations in 1997 but not having done anything decisive. The case triggered a broad discussion about abuse and violence in German sport and how to deal with it.
