Respect, Josh: 21-year-old professional footballer Josh Cavallo has come out as gay. Cavallo plays for Adelaide United and is currently the only openly gay footballer in a major league. "I'm a footballer and I'm gay," the Australian with Maltese roots said in video clips he released. Cavallo got thousands of likes and encouragement even from one of the best football clubs in the world "Josh, we admire your courage and strength. We hope you continue to inspire more people to live their truth," FC Bayern Munich said.
Enough with the bikini nonsense: The IHF has finally changed its dress code for female beach handball players. Instead of the previously prescribed bikini bottoms, the women are now allowed to play in shorts. The overdue new rules are due to the protests of the Norwegian women beach handball players, which attracted worldwide attention. They had worn longer shorts in protest at the European Championships in July and had to pay a fine of 1500 euros for inappropriate outfits.
They don't just want to change sport, they want to change the world. More than 50 participants of the Olympic Games and Paralympics have called on the world's heads of state and government to do more to combat climate change. "Dear leaders of the world," is the name of the clip released to coincide with the World Climate Change Conference in Glasgow. Olympic sailing champion Hannah Mills of Great Britain says "the Olympic dream is about being the best you can be - and that doesn't just mean competing or winning medals, it means being a good global citizen." Let's hope that presidents and government leaders also want to be good global citizens and listen to athletes.
At last someone is saying it: In the nice, rich world of football, abuse happens to both men and women. It can be sexual abuse or abuse of power, as a study by the international players' union FIFPRO shows. "Football is a high-risk environment with inadequate controls," says a ten-page analysis by the association. It's ruthless - useless investigation and handling processes, looking the other way instead of acting, a fatal culture of silence. At last someone is naming the mistakes - now it is time for the football associations to learn the lessons.
Mountain biking as therapy: Lennard Kämna is a German professional cyclist. In 2020, the 25-year-old won another mountain stage at the Tour de France. This year, however, he had to take a long break due to mental blocks in the middle of the season. His team manager got Kämna out of the hole. He sent him to the Cape Epic in South Africa, the Tour de France of mountain bikers. The German pedalled more than 15,000 metres in altitude. Even though he didn't finish in 22nd place, the knot in his head was loosened. He now wants to become "more balanced and happier", he stated in the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" as a goal. "I want to try to get back to my old level. It's going to be a long road, but I know I can do it."
"Grandma" Claudia rocks the ice: At the age of 49, the first ones are gradually becoming grandparents or preparing for retirement. Claudia Pechstein, on the other hand, shows the young skaters her blades from behind. In Inzell, Pechstein won the German championship titles over 3000 meters and 5000 meters, with a huge lead over her competitors who are not even half her age. "The gap to the young chickens is extreme again," says Germany's record-breaking Olympian. Congratulations on that - whether it will be enough for greater things internationally is more than uncertain. But we keep our fingers crossed that the targeted eighth Olympic participation will come true.
She is the "model athlete": That's what "Der Spiegel" calls Karla Borger, who is now the top lobbyist for German athletes as the new president of Athletes Germany. The 32-year-old beach volleyball player has also justified her candidacy with her age. She said she has grown older and now wants to take on even more responsibility. "After all, I have also grown older in the last few years and have had to fight against some resistance, have often spoken out what I was thinking." There is plenty for the association to do: the independent body is fighting for funding as well as for equal rights.
