Olympia 2018: Snowboard: Association head Hölz demands more money

After the Olympic medal coup of Selina Jörg and Ramona Hofmeister in Pyeongchang, Hanns-Michael Hölz, president of Snowboard Germany, has once again demanded more money for his sport.

He told the SID:”We are going to present in the competitive sport reform, but I urgently expect that what politicians have promised us for years now will finally be kept,”he told the SID.

“Now those who support us financially must finally understand that snowboarding not only deserves it, but also has the right concepts to get the support we’ve been waiting for for years in freestyle, race and snowboardcross,”added Hölz.

Jörg and Hofmeister presented the association with silver and bronze medals in the parallel giant slalom at the end of the competitions in the Phoenix Snow Park in Bokwang. The goal of not falling behind the yield of Sochi in 2014 has thus been achieved:”We have proven that we can do it with relatively little money, out of ourselves. That makes me proud,”said Hölz.

In addition to the racers, he also sees the crossers on their way to the top of the world, and freestyle simply lacks training facilities:”It would be as if the swimmers without swimming pools would achieve such success,”he said in view of rank 23 by Halfpiper Hannes Höpfl.

According to Hölz, snowboarding is currently funded with just over a million euros, which would require “at least more than two”. Hölz hopes that the “promising talks”about building a snow park in Berchtesgaden will lead to the goal. The federal base of Crosser in Oberstdorf also needed to be better supported.

Jörg, who has to buy her racing shoes herself, supported the demands of her boss. There’s no money to be made in her sport, she said:”For what we get, footballers wouldn’t even tie their shoes.”