2009 Best Performers
200 METRES FREESTYLE
| # | Country | Time | Name | IPS | Meet | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | GER | 1:44.71 | Biedermann, Paul | 1002 | GERLCJUN |
| 2 |  | CHN | 1:45.83 | Zhang, Lin | 987 | CHNLCAPR |
| 3 |  | USA | 1:46.02 | Phelps, Michael | 984 | CHARLMAY |
| 4 |  | RUS | 1:46.17 | Izotov, Danila | 982 | RUSLCAPR |
| 5 |  | ITA | 1:46.33 | Belotti, Marco | 980 | ITALCMAR |
Germany's top swimmers have lambasted the DSV, the German federation, for failing to communicate with athletes and for issuing threats when criticism is levelled at the blazers who run the boardroom.
Paul Biedermann and Helge Meeuw are the only top flight swimmers from Germany down to compete at a home World Cup event in Berlin this weekend. The woeful home entry has prompted the DSV, led by Christa Thiel, to ask local associations to press their swimmers into action. The swimmers have responded by saying - forget it.
Double Olympic champion and the only successful German swimmer in Beijing, Britta Steffen told the DPA agency: "I've only been back in training for six weeks. To race at this point would be pointless. Besides, for the first time in years, I want to celebrate my birthday (25th) at home with my family on Sunday."
Thomas Rupprath, who has not missed a home World Cup since 1996 said simply: "Until [this week] no-one was interested whether I would be here [racing in Berlin]." Instead, he will be taking part in a charity event in Dusseldorf.
Antje Buschschulte criticsed the DSV's attitude and lack of communication skills. "If the DSV makes the mistake of not talking to us, then they should not then use as the scapegoats afterwards. There is hardly any contact to the upper echelons of the DSV. We've had communication problems for a long time now ... someone has to get a grip on this. if you criticise them publically, you risk being given a final warning."
Helge Meeuw, her boyfriend, added with a nod to his attendance: "I'm not racing just because the DSV orders me too. We [Germany] have other problems than just looking good in Berlin. It is more important for us to acknowledge our mistakes and state them openly."
While communication between the DSV and athletes is obviously poor, the cogs of Thiel's political wheels are well oiled. National federations from other nations may be somewhat surprised to learn than the top table at the DSV election gathering in Rostock last weekend included none other than FINA President Mustapha Larfaoui. No secret in swimming circles that Thiel and Larfaoui enjoy a special relationship - but rather rare for the head of the international federation to turn up to such domestic gatherings, we assume. And surely impossible for him to attend such events hosted by members around the world - almost 200 of them.
As Thiel considers what Germany's top swimmers have just had to say on the matter of poor communication, she might prefer to reach not for the stick but for the carrot, in much the same way as aquatic sports politicians have been dangling carrots at each other for quite some time now in the unseemly and energy sapping race for the FINA presidential crown - both in Rome 2009 and, more importantly, the 2013 election about which the current back-room negotiating is truly all about.
