Water jumper Patrick Hausding ends his career

No tears, no documented voice. "No, it is not a heavy walk," says Patrick Hausding. The flagship water jumper of the German Swimming Association (DSV) stops. At the age of 33, he announced his resignation from active competitive sports on the edge of the German Championships in Berlin on Wednesday. "It was a good idea. I have been thinking for a long time that the time has come to say goodbye to competitive sports," said Hausding.

• national coach: "That tears a wound"
• teaching degree - and then?

"I am happy about how my career went and how I can end it. There is nothing better than completing his career with a highlight," said the Athlete from Berliner TSC. Last year he had won bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics. He also led the German team to the Olympic Stadium as a flag bearer.

For Hausding, there was a circle that had started at the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008: "In Beijing, I had opened the door in Beijing at the age of 19 and the Olympic silver medal. At that time I would not have thought that it would be normal, to win Olympic medals. " The silver medal and twice bronze at Olympics Hausding is just as much a career highlights as the World Cup title with Sascha Klein 2013 in dubbing. In view of the 15 other EM title, however, he could "not properly prioritize" the highlights.

national coach: "That tears a wound"

For national coach Lutz Buschkow, who had to cope with the resignation of Dresden Martin Wolfram the day before, a "big gap" now opens after the decision previously coordinated with the athletes: "The water jumpers have always been a guarantee for medals - essential Patrick Hausding."

The 64-year-old not only sees the medal collector in Hausding as a model, but also appreciates the person of the model prison and draws a parallel to the biathlon: "As with the biathletes after the resignation of Magdalena Neuner, this is now a wound. Find the trail. I am optimistic that we will succeed. "

Even if the resignations of Hausding and Wolfram leave "big footsteps", the demands remain high. In the men, Lars Rüdiger and Jaden Eikermann are considered new hopes of hope, in the women's area it is Tina Punzel or Lena Hentschel. "We want to fight medals again in Paris 2024 and Los Angeles 2028," said Buschkow, who was in the forefront at five Olympic Games since Athens 2000. "At four games we always got medals, in London 2012 there were many fourth places," said Buschkow, "in Europe we are among the leading nations. We want to continue implementing this claim."

teaching degree - and then?

Buschkow hopes that Hausding will help in any form. After 25 years of competitive sports, the top athlete in retirement wants to complete his teaching degree for sports and English and begin the master's degree in autumn, which the legal clerkship is followed.

Hausding had excluded the coaching of the coaching before the games in Tokyo, but one should "never say", he said. However, since Wolfram has already announced to complete the coaching course, Buschkow speaks of a Fifty Fifty solution and hopes for more: "They have so much chlorine smell in the nose that will quickly come. I am optimistic that Patti will we preserve. "