"The election of the prasidium will, if you look at the corona-measures realistically, certainly only take place in a proper MA," explained vice-president uwe rietzke in an interview with the german press agency. The 57-year-old dresden resident will thus presumably lead the association on a provisional basis until the annual general meeting scheduled for september.
At the DESG meeting in erfurt, a new president was to be elected, but the office has been vacant since stefanie teeuwen resigned in november 2019. Two candidates had officially submitted their candidacies for these elections: claudia pechstein’s life-threatening matthias grobe and michael kurz, who was previously completely unknown in the speed skating scene.
Whether the explosive financial situation of the DESG will ease at least a little by the fall seems questionable. "What effects the corona crisis will have on the sports world as a whole and the DESG in particular, no one can seriously say at the moment. We are in close contact with the DOSB and BMI in order to overcome these difficult times together," said rietzke. "At the moment, companies are certainly preoccupied with securing their own existence rather than entering into a new sponsorship commitment."
Grobe had announced that, in the event of his presidency, he would support the 400,000 square meter building.The federation’s financial gap, which is estimated to be in the thousands of euros, with the help of sponsors. "As i understand it, the goal of a sponsor relationship should always be long-term and not necessarily tied to a specific person," rietzke now clarified.