IAT and FES fear a drop in performance due to funding cuts

The funding cuts planned by the German government in the draft budget for the Olympic year 2024 threaten even successful sports such as bobsleigh, track cycling and biathlon. The institutes for applied training science in Leipzig (IAT) and for research and development of sports equipment in Berlin (FES) are affected by the measures being considered.

"The funding cut of around 20 percent currently under consideration would reduce the performance of the IAT by significantly more than one-fifth, as qualified staff of complete specialist groups and sports such as biathlon would in some cases have to be made redundant for employment reasons," IAT director Marc-Oliver Löw told the German Press Agency. The financial cuts would also have an impact "on para-sports, which were only established at the IAT a few years ago. This completely contradicts the self-imposed goal of putting para-sports on an equal footing with Olympic sports," Löw said.

Also at the partner institute FES, which mainly tailors bobsleds, canoes and bicycles, the level achieved can then hardly be maintained. FES Director Michael Nitsch fears that if the cuts are implemented, it will no longer be possible at FES "to maintain the level of equipment and measurement development currently provided, as well as the associated support measures for the Paralympic and Olympic teams." He said that was also true in skeleton, where the sleds used by Olympic champions Hannah Neise and Christopher Grotheer came from the FES workshop.