'Totally unacceptable': German biathlon official on online hate
· Yahoo Sports
Germany's modest biathlon results at the Milan/Cortina Olympics have led to online hatred which has also been triggered by over-critical reporting, sporting director Felix Bitterling has said.
Germany have won at least two medals at every Games since 1992 but with only the women's mass start left on Monday the haul in Italy stands at one, a bronze from the opening mixed relay race.
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Philipp Horn came fourth in the men's mass start, their fourth near podium miss by one place, the others from Venessa Voigt in the women's 15km and the men's and women's relays.
Others struggled, most notably reigning World Cup champion Franziska Preuss who had big problems on the shooting range. There is growing speculation that Preuss will end her career on Saturday and not at the end of the season.
Bitterling told broadcasters ZDF said that "what doesn't help - and this is unfortunately increasing - is that the team is showered with hundreds of hate messages after the smallest failure.
"This is totally unacceptable, below the belt. We are talking about sport. You can criticise us for what we are not doing well in the sporting area but please at a certain level," he said.
Bitterling said that the athletes are fine with constructive criticism but what was not acceptable was "insulting someone personally, ridiculing them or telling them they have no right to live and all that nonsense.
"And I very much hope that we will eventually reach the point where such behaviour is simply prosecuted," he added.
Bitterling also hit back at criticism from the media because extremely negative reporting would encourage hate comments.
"I think we have also shown that many of the grandiose headlines that spoke of the demise of biathlon can be confidently put where they belong: into the bin,’ he said.
He said that "the more sensational the headlines are, which is a big issue for us," the more often there are hate comments towards the athletes.
"They are certainly triggered by this kind of headlines," he said.
Philipp Nawrath, who finished seventh on Friday, said that the online hatred was mainly directed at the women's team because they were easier targets than the men.
"It always causes a bit of unrest, but the whole issue mainly affects the women, who are more vulnerable. I can see that the girls are simply more vulnerable to attack," Nawrath said.
Nawrath added he hardly pays any attention to derogatory comments, saying: "These are just armchair coaches who are dissatisfied with their own situation. They are in a phase where they are emotionally dissatisfied."