Funding cuts for IAT and FES off the table

The funding cuts planned by the federal government in the draft budget for the Institute for Applied Training Science in Leipzig (IAT) and the Institute for Research and Development of Sports Equipment in Berlin (FES) are apparently off the table. That explained on Wednesday the Leipzig member of the Bundestag Paula Piechotta (Alliance 90/The Greens) with "sport in the east" in the MDR.

Accordingly the budget committee of the Bundestag had increased the financial means for the IAT and the FES in the next year even around 5,4 million euro. Instead of 17.2 now 22.6 million euros flow to the institutes. Actually the Federal Ministry of the Interior responsible for sport had wanted to cut the budget by four million euro.

"We are pleased naturally about this positive indication. At the same time, we are well aware that actual planning security will only exist when the budget law is passed in the Bundestag in December," IAT Director Marc-Oliver Löw told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur on Wednesday, also speaking on behalf of his FES colleague Michael Nitsch.

For Piechotta, a member of the Budget Committee, however, the IAT already has planning security. "It can continue in the Olympic year 2024 as a beacon of sports science and an important pillar of German elite sports its commitment, especially in the field of para-sports," said the politician, stressing that "jobs are secured for all employees."

After the cutback intentions became known, there had been expressions of solidarity across German sports with the two institutes, which with their work are involved in about three-quarters of all German Olympic medals. At the Winter Olympics in Beijing, 21 medals had been won with know-how from the IAT and FES.