In an interview this past weekend on the German television program “Welt am Sonntag” (World on Sunday), Marco Koch took aim at the IOC’s rules on individual athlete sponsorship. The interview was part of a series with world champion German athletes.
Koch blocked defending Olympic champion Daniel Gyurta’s bid for a fourth straight world title with his victory this past summer in Kazan and most recently also beat the Gyurta in the European Short Course Championship.
Koch held nothing back in the interview, stating that “This is an absurdity” in regards to the rules, which restrict individual athletes while IOC sponsors get top billing. He went on to suggest that the only way the rules would change were if athletes worldwide would boycott the Olympics.
But Koch did not save all of his ire for the IOC. He also decried the lack of enthusiasm within his own country for Olympic sports. He cited the fact that a proposed Hamburg Olympic bid fizzled after a public referendum.
Koch made a direct comparison from his own preparation to that of British athletes post-London. He said that while there wasn’t a huge payoff right away, that now British swimming is beginning to “blow up” in a positive way.
Koch finished with one final volley towards his own country. He posited that “perhaps we should ask the German people whether the Olympic games should be abolished…that would maybe be thought provoking to people that there are sports other than football”.
The breaststroker is German swimming’s best hope for a medal in Rio, as he was the only gold medalist for either gender in Kazan.
