Germany's worst Olympic start causes concern

With Germany off to its worst start at an Olympics, there is cause for German concern in Rio de Janeiro where their athletes have yet to medal after three days of competition.

Divers Patrick Hausding and Sascha Klein finished fourth in the men's synchronised 10m platform, while Paul Biedermann managed only sixth in the men's 200m freestyle, the closest any German athletes have come to the podium so far.

Men's volleyball pair Markus Boeckermann and Lars Flueggen lost their second group game and are looking at an early exit.

In the gymnastics, former world horizontal bars champion Fabian Hambuechen led the men's all-round team to seventh after Andreas Toba tore his cruciate knee ligament in qualifying.

Philipp Kohlschreiber has withdrawn from the men's tennis tournament with a fractured foot.

All in all, it's been the worst start for Germany at an Olympic Games since reunification in 1990.
"It's not the start we had hoped for," Alfons Hoermann, president of the German Olympic Sports Federation (DSOB), admitted to Bild.

"One can only hope for better in the coming days and I want to advise all of us to have patience.

"Such things can sometimes change very quickly in sport."

However, it's not been all bad news for the Germans in Rio.

Although table tennis hopeful Timo Boll, who carried his country's flag in the opening ceremony, suffered a shock defeat in the fourth round, Germany's number one Dimitrij Ovtcharov has reached the quarter-finals.

The men's hockey team has beaten Canada and India so far and are on course to defend the Olympic title they won in London four years ago, while reigning discus champion Robert Harting has arrived in Rio and will start competing next week.

German tennis star Angelique Kerber, ranked second in the world, is through to the third round and will play Australia's Samantha Stosur on Tuesday.

"We knew from the beginning that we had only a few serious chances of winning a medal in the first few days," said Germany's chef de mission Michael Vesper. "Therefore, we won't be driving ourselves crazy. 

"We still have 13 days of competition. Every day the sun rises again."

Source: AFP