Bundeswehr for Drygalla

Nothing interests the media more than a scandal, or so it seems. When the German rower Nadja Drygalla left the London Olympic Games in August when it was revealed that her boyfriend - and ex-oarsman, too - belonged, or had once belonged, to a far-right, neo-Nazi, party, the German and international media were all over the place to scrutinize her. Surely, Germany could not have a person rowing for her country if she had far-right political views, the story went... Well, Drygalla had never had any neo-Nazi political views, and the only thing one could maybe say on one hand was that she had a poor judgment choosing a boyfriend, but on the other hand, the party he (once) belonged to was 'politically correct' enough to have seats in some state parliaments, but not on a federal level.

After a several hour hearing conducted by the German Rowing Association, Deutscher Ruderverband, in September, the organisation’s president, Siegfried Kaidel, told the media that the Association stood behind Nadja Drygalla. Then on 1 November, news came that she has been allowed to join the German Military, the Bundeswehr, which in its ranks has around 744 athletes training while they are soldiers. This is a way for those top sportsmen and -women without a big-money sponsorship behind them to still be able to focus on their sport. This cost the Bundeswehr and German state about 32 million euros ($41 million) per year.

Read more about Nadja Drygalla and the Bundeswehr here.

Drygalla gets the DRV Support

Nadja Drygalla

After a several hour hearing conducted by the German Rowing Association, Deutscher Ruderverband, the organisation’s president, Siegfried Kaidel, told the media on Tuesday that the Association stood behind Nadja Drygalla. She made the headlines during the Olympic rowing event when she was sent home after it was revealed that her boyfriend Michael Fischer – an ex-rower – had ties to the neo-Nazi movement in Germany. A spokesman for the German Olympic Committee also made a comment, saying that the investigation on the 23-year-old female rower had cleared her from having any links to right-wing political groups.

In a press release on the German Rowing Association’s website it says: ‘In a friendly, constructive atmosphere Siegfried Kaidel confirmed that the Association stands fully behind its athlete.’

Already last year, Drygalla had to leave the police force because of her relationship with Fischer. A lively debate broke out in Germany when Drygalla was forced to leave the Olympic Village in London. The rower received support from the German Defence Minister Thomas de Maizière, who told the magazine Der Spiegel: 'Must we demand that sportswomen and sportsmen reveal who they are friends with, what they think? Where does one draw the line?'