33 Jahre danach: Ostdeutsche in Führungspositionen des gesamtdeutschen Sports

This is the first study to supplement the existing findings on the underrepresentation of East Germans in leadership positions in Germany with data from the field of sports. For this purpose, the author determined the origin of the holders of positions in the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB), the Olympic and Paralympic umbrella associations, and the state sports associations, both for volunteers in the committees with the largest decision-making power and for full-time employees in the top-management. The numbers were then compared with the proportions in the resident population. The result is that, similar to other areas, there is an underrepresentation of people with an East German socialisation, an underrepresentation in East German state sports associations of people with a West German socialisation, as well as an underrepresentation of women. This applies equally to both voluntary and paid positions. However, the underrepresentation is less pronounced than in other social areas. Access to top positions in sports appears to be even more difficult for people with an East German socialisation (“glass ceiling”). Potential reasons are discussed, including the attribution of assumed collective characteristics to individuals as well as the delegitimisation of individual characteristics, leading to selection and self-selection processes.