Ski Alpin: Sexual assault: ÖSV takes a stand

The Austrian Ski Association (ÖSV) has reacted to allegations of abuse made by former ski racer Nicola Werdenigg (lady-named Spieß) in the 1970s:”If something like this were to happen, we would go in between and make a short trial,”stressed Peter Schröcksnadel, ÖSV president since 1990, to the daily Der Standard.

Werdenigg, Austrian downhill champion of 1975 and Olympic gold medallist of 1976, reported in the standard sports monologue (Monday issue) about sexual assaults in the home skiing sport up to a rape by a team colleague during her career. At that time she was 16 years old. If you didn’t want to play, you put your starting spot in danger,”explained the Tyrolean.

The 59-year-old also recalled the case of a younger racer:”She was secretly filmed by a colleague during her first sexual intercourse, he had hidden a camera in the box. The video was later played to the crew. It was a joke back then. Nothing happened to him, she was ashamed and threw the sport away. The woman was ruined. It was cruel, but that’s the way it was back then. Everyone knew about such events. They thought it was normal. There was hardly any talk of it, especially not against it.”

Schröcksnadel said in a conversation with the Standard that he had never heard anything about sexual assaults during his time as president. He could not rule out the possibility that “there is a rough tone between coaches and athletes from time to time”. The head of the ÖSV also “does not want to rule out the possibility of one or the other pantscherl. But a Pantscherl is no assault.”

Schröcksnadel commented on the comments by Werdenigg:”Those were certainly different times at the time:” At the same time, the 76-year-old Tyrolean man admitted that the ÖSV “wouldn’t really be prepared for this” if he were currently faced with such accusations. Schröcksnadel, however, referred to the former world-class runner Petra Kronberger,”our women’s representative”, and hopes that potential victims “will immediately go to Mrs. Kronberger – and also to me”.

Kronberger, two-time Olympic champion of Albertville in 1992 (combination and slalom), downhill world champion of Saalbach in 1991 and three-time overall World Cup winner (1990 to 1992), has been the “Consul for women’s sport” in the ÖSV since autumn 2015. She also commented on the Werdeniggs report in the Standard:”This is a very disturbing and upsetting story. It takes great courage to go public with this. But it is important that Nicola Werdenigg has taken this step.”

The 48-year-old from Salzburg hopes that possible sportswomen who are currently affected will turn directly to her. It is a very sensitive issue,”Kronberger said,” which has to be dealt with carefully and attentively.”In the event of a case, it would be subject to a duty of secrecy. In addition, one would have to “think calmly about how to deal with it and who to turn to”.

Kronberger also spoke of a particularly narrow ridge in sport:”You use your body to achieve super performance. A certain closeness to other people is sometimes necessary. An assault does not necessarily have to be connected with physical violence either,”It is enough,” emphasized the Olympic champion,”even if not everyone feels this way, it is often already a matter of words.”.