The Case Anna Hahner

Ninaruns is a runningblog about me, you know, because it is fun to talk about myself.

Nevertheless, sometimes it may seem necessary to use it for something you think is worth sharing, for example my opinions about the nomination system for the German marathon runners for the Olympics.

Since most of my readers are from somewhere else other than Germany, I belive most of you haven’t heard of Anna Hahner and how close she was to getting picked as one of the three female marathoner for the Olympics, and how she didn’t make the team because of 14 seconds.

Background
It was fun watching all the post from the US bloggers about the Olympic Trials in Houston. Back then, I wondered how the German team was put together. In the United States of America, runners qualify to be on the trials, and the fastest three female and the fastest three male runners of the Olympic Trials are on the team. Very easy.

In Germany, the runners have to run the marathon in a certain time to get one of the three spots in the team. The Deutscher Leichtathletikverband (DLV) (Translation by me: German Athletic Association) dictated that male runners have to run the marathon in 2 hours and 12 minutes, while the female runners should not need longer than 2 hours and 30 minutes in order to qualify for the Olympics. For your information: IAAF (International Association of Athletics Federations) also set times, for the female runners: 2 hours and 37 minutes. Unfortunately, this does not seem to mean much for the German nomination process. Nevertheless, runners can still be nominated by the DLV if they don’t meet the time limit set by the DLV. The DLV nominates athletes which than needs to be accepted by the Deutsche Olympische Sportbund (DOSB). This year, many athletes of other sports were picked by the DLV even if they didn’t meet the norm.

The Case Anna Hahner
The 22-year-old Anna Hahner is a female German runner who run her first marathon in Düsseldorf this year. Her time: 2 hours, 30 minutes and 14 seconds. Yes, that are 14 seconds too much. However, many of us have thought that she would still be nominated by the DLV, due to the fact that this time was run at her first marathon and also because she still is very young. No one could doubt that she is talented. How long did you need for your first marathon?

Anna wasn’t nominated. She has already started training for the Olympic marathon, because the final decision was published only a month before the marathon on August, 5th. Anna says that she knew her participation wasn’t secure, but that she had to take the risk.

Now, only two spaces in our team are filled. Susanne Hahn and Irina Mikitensko will represent Germany on August 5. The third place is not filled due to 14 seconds. No male runner run the 2 hours and 12 minutes and no German male runner will be part of the Olympic marathon this year.

I think that is sad.

 

Dear DLV,

please rethink your criteria. We want to cheer for six German marathoner on the Olympics! We know we don’t really have a change to win, but we want to represent our country and celebrate our sport!

 

What do you think?

Want to share your feelings with Anna or read more about her? Visit her website.