Hajo Seppelt

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Hajo Seppelt, 2016

Hans-Joachim "Hajo" Seppelt (* 1963 in Berlin ) is a German journalist and author . He is considered an expert on the doping problem in German and international sport.

life and work

Hajo Seppelt is the son of the entrepreneur Alfred Seppelt (1929–2015), who headed the Berlin Chess Association from 1984 to 2004 .

In 1981, he put on the Beethoven-Oberschule in Berlin-Lankwitz the High School , and then studied a few semesters sports, social studies, journalism and French at the Free University of Berlin . He left university without a degree. Since 1985 he has been a sports reporter for ARD . He initially worked for the broadcaster Free Berlin and from 2003 onwards for the broadcasting company in Berlin-Brandenburg . In addition to sports reports, Seppelt also dealt with sports-political issues. In a documentary with Johannes B. Kerner , he reported on Berlin's application for the Olympic Games in 2000 .

From 1992 to 2006 Seppelt was a live commentator on ARD for the TV broadcast of swimming competitions at the Olympic Games, World and European Championships. In the early summer of 2006, he was released from this task, according to Seppelt because of a private e-mail that had become public in which Seppelt had criticized the uncritical sports and doping coverage of the ARD.

A little later he was hired again as a freelance journalist by ARD and built up an editorial team on the subject of doping at WDR . Since 2006 he has been an author, reporter and expert on doping and sports policy for Das Erste , the TV and radio programs of the regional broadcasting corporations of ARD and Deutschlandfunk. He appears in sports programs , news programs and magazines and as an author of documentaries as well as in the context of Summer and Winter Olympics and other major sporting events. Since 2007 he has also been the author of the WDR show sport inside .

With numerous reports and revelations about doping, he became internationally known.

Since 2017 he has been the chief author for multimedia content (TV, radio, online) in a production company in Berlin. His contract with ARD has existed since 2018 via rbb (previously via WDR). He continues to deal with reporting on doping and sports politics.

Reporting on doping in competitive sport

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Since 1997 Seppelt has been reporting regularly for all ARD stations on sport-political issues. Together with the former Canadian swimmer Karin Helmstaedt , Hajo Seppelt shot the documentary “Staatsgeheimnis Kinderdoping” about doping perpetrators and victims of GDR swimming, which was broadcast on ARD. On the subject of state doping in the GDR, Hajo Seppelt published the book “Anklage Kinderdoping: Das Erbe des GDR Sports” in 1999 together with Holger Schück . From 1997 to 2000 Seppelt followed the trials against the perpetrators of GDR doping before the Berlin criminal court and reported on radio and television for the SFB and other ARD stations. In 2001 he made a report about the transsexuality of the former European shot put champion Andreas Krieger . In 2002 he produced a feature for educational television with the title "Doping: A dangerous game" for the SFB.

In 2006 Seppelt reported in detail on the doping problem in cycling. His research led, among other things, to the fact that the German doctor Markus Choina could be identified as an accomplice of the Spanish doping network of Eufemiano Fuentes . In November 2006 he received the “lighthouse” for special journalistic achievements from the journalists' association Netzwerk Recherche for his research, reports and exclusive reports on the cyclists Jan Ullrich and Floyd Landis and the doctor Eufemiano Fuentes. In the television report “Mission: Clean Sport” broadcast in January 2007, author Seppelt and co-author Jo Goll documented the work of German doping investigators. Among other things, the reporters identified deficiencies in the German control system, which triggered heated public discussions and contributed to structural changes in the National Anti-Doping Agency (NADA).

Seppelt's work did not remain undisputed. The German Ski Association (DSV) initiated legal action against Hajo Seppelt in mid-January 2008 and obtained an injunction against the journalist at the Hamburg Regional Court . Hajo Seppelt had rejected a declaration of discontinuance requested by the DSV to report on suspected doping among German winter sports enthusiasts. The background was an ARD report from Hajo Seppelt, in which the suspicion was expressed that, among others, German cross-country skiers and biathletes had carried out blood doping in a blood laboratory. The Hanseatic Higher Regional Court (OLG) corrected the regional court decision, revoked its ruling on October 21, 2008 and agreed with Hajo Seppelt: The DSV is not entitled to cease and desist because it is not affected by the journalist's reporting. The judgment also referred to the fundamental rights of freedom of reporting in the case of carefully anonymized reporting. Even after extensive subsequent research, Seppelt's suspicion could not be confirmed.

On the occasion of the Summer Olympics in Beijing , ARD broadcast the 45-minute documentary “Olympics in the Realm of Means: Doping in China” (author Seppelt with co-author Jo Goll) in July 2008. The documentation reported on doping controls and suspected doping practices in China, in particular on offers of stem cell manipulation for top athletes. Before the start of the World Athletics Championships in Berlin in 2009, the ARD broadcast the documentary “Doping, a secret matter: The doping masterminds in athletics” (author Hajo Seppelt with co-author Robert Kempe ). Before the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, ARD broadcast the 30-minute feature “Doping, a secret matter: ice cold fraud”. In the feature, the authors Hajo Seppelt and Robert Kempe and Jochen Leufgens took a look behind the scenes of winter sports.

After research by Hajo Seppelt and Robert Kempe in September 2010 on the world's best cyclist Alberto Contador , the International Cycling Federation (UCI) had to admit a positive doping test of the Tour de France winner from Spain. It came out that the UCI wanted to keep a positive test contadors for the substance Clenbuterol at the Tour de France in July 2010 under the covers. In February 2012 Contador was banned by the International Court of Justice for Sports (CAS) retrospectively for two years for clenbuterol doping from August 2010 to August 2012.

In May 2011, Seppelt and Kempe had the opportunity to shoot for a week in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, on the subject of sports in North Korea. This resulted in a documentary broadcast on ARD in July 2011 with the title “Sport in North Korea: Insights into an Unknown World”.

In January 2012, Seppelt and colleagues from WDR published articles in the ARD-Sportschau and in Sport Inside (WDR) about UV radiation of the blood of around 30 athletes carried out by an Erfurt sports doctor. They also published the names of some affected athletes. As a result, a public discussion broke out on the question of whether these treatments should be classified as prohibited under the WADA Code. WADA declared it banned, but later said that it had only been the case since January 1, 2011. Proceedings under sports law against individual athletes due to special individual circumstances ended with proceedings being terminated or acquittals. A public prosecutor's investigation against the doctor was discontinued. Nevertheless, many experts continued to take the view that the treatment of blood should be regarded as prohibited in principle under sports law. In an injunction that the sports doctor had initiated against the WDR because of the reporting on the question of the ban, the WDR prevailed before the Cologne Higher Regional Court. The WDR is allowed to speak of "prohibited blood treatments" in its reporting.

In the spring and summer of 2012 Seppelt and Robert Kempe reported for the first time on doping by Kenyan athletes. The main focus was on the practices of doctors in the background. One athlete spoke about widespread doping among Kenyan runners. The reports generated violent reactions in Kenya and a large international media coverage. In 2013 Hajo Seppelt and Robert Kempe produced a critical documentary about the German sports official Thomas Bach , shortly before he was elected IOC President.

In December 2014, a film by Seppelt with the title "Doping, a secret matter: How Russia makes its winners" was broadcast on ARD. In the 60-minute documentary, whistleblowers reported on systemic doping in Russia in athletics and other sports. The film backs the allegations with evidence in videos and audios and documents secretly recorded by whistleblowers . The broadcast, which was followed by shorter reports on ARD and WDR with additional documents, generated a great deal of international media coverage. The documentary was broadcast worldwide in many languages. After the broadcast, several people resigned from their offices or functions in international sports organizations or anti-doping institutions or were suspended. A so-called independent investigative commission of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) carried out long investigations. As a result, several Russian coaches and officials as well as athletes were banned, some for life. The Russian Athletics Federation has been suspended by the International Athletics Federation (IAAF).

In August 2015, ARD broadcast the documentary “Doping, a secret matter: In the shadow realm of athletics” by Hajo Seppelt, based on the first program about Russia. In addition to further research in Russia, this film focused on doping research in Kenya, home of the world's best long-distance runners, and in particular on a previously unpublished database of the IAAF World Athletics Federation with thousands of blood values ​​from athletes from all over the world. According to Seppelt, who cooperated with the London Sunday Times in this research, and the Australian scientists Mike Ashenden and Robin Parisotto, numerous blood values ​​from this data set suggested the suspicion of blood doping. The film had a great worldwide response and was broadcast in several languages. The IAAF was outraged that the data set had fallen into the hands of journalists and rejected the assessment of the blood data by experts Ashenden and Parisotto. The then IAAF presidential candidate Sebastian Coe called the ARD and Sunday Times revelations a “declaration of war” on athletics. The WADA commission of inquiry found corruption and cover-up by top IAAF officials for several years. When interpreting the blood values ​​from the IAAF database, she did not agree with the judgment of the Australian experts.

In March 2016, the WDR broadcast in the show Sport Inside the third part of the series on Doping in athletics with the renewed focus on Russia: "top secret Doping: Russia deception". In it, Seppelt and co-author Florian Riesewieck showed how Russian trainers and officials circumvent the requirements of the World Athletics Association IAAF and the World Anti-Doping Agency WADA. The 30-minute documentary once again evoked a great international response and was broadcast in several countries. In June 2016, the fourth part of the documentary "Doping as a Secret Matter - Showdown for Russia" was broadcast on ARD. In this documentary, the authors Hajo Seppelt, Florian Riesewieck, Felix Becker and Olga Sviridenko showed how officials and coaches of the Russian Athletics Federation (RUSAF) again disregard the rules of the World Anti-Doping Code and the requirements of the IAAF. Shortly after the documentary aired, the IAAF extended the Russian Athletics Federation's suspension. Its athletes were therefore almost without exception unable to take part in the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro .

In November 2016, the 22-minute film “The Doping Secret: The Protection Money Extortion” by Hajo Seppelt, Florian Riesewieck, Olga Sviridenko and Felix Becker was broadcast in the sports show. In the film, which is based on research by the French daily newspaper “ Le Monde ” in cooperation with the ARD doping editorial team, criminal machinations in international athletics related to doping and doping cover-up were discussed. In January 2017, the ARD broadcast another contribution from the series “Doping as a secret matter”. Another whistleblower from Russia, Andrey Dmitriev, took center stage . In the report, the athlete complained of an unbroken doping culture in athletics in his country and proved with secret video recordings that a top coach who was contaminated with doping continues to work in athlete support despite being suspended.

In June 2017, Seppelt also reported together with his colleague Andreas Spinrath on doping in Russian football. The then ARD football expert Mehmet Scholl did not want the contribution to be broadcast in advance of a live broadcast of a game from the Confederations Cup and left the studio beforehand in protest. The ARD emphasized that the responsibility for the design of programs lies with the editors. Mehmet Scholl stopped working for ARD weeks later. In the same month, the ARD broadcast another episode from the series "Doping a secret". The film "Brazil's Dirty Game" by Hajo Seppelt, Florian Riesewieck and Thilo Neumann was about doping in the country of the five-time soccer world champion. In August 2017, the ARD broadcast the next film in the series "Doping a secret". The team of authors with Hajo Seppelt, Grit Hartmann, Benjamin Best and Ulrike Unfug shed light on the way European athletics managers deal with African athletes and the doping situation in Ethiopia in the documentary "The Run for Big Money".

In January 2018 - shortly before the Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea - ARD broadcast a two-part episode of “Doping as a Secret Matter” for the first time. The title was “The Olympic Conspiracy: The Hypocritical Fight Against Sports Fraud.” In the films of the team of authors with Hajo Seppelt, Grit Hartmann, Jürgen Kleinschnitger and Edmund Willison, the IOC's handling of state doping in Russia and the possibility In an additional short article the authors reported on a database with abnormal blood values ​​from cross-country skiing that could be attributed to doping.

In May 2018, Hajo Seppelt and Florian Riesewieck produced another episode of "The Doping Secret Matter" entitled "Russia's Football Friends". In it, they investigated suspicions about doping in football in the country of the World Cup host Russia.

In June 2018, on the occasion of the World Cup in Russia, ARD broadcast the film "Doping, a secret matter: Brazil's Twelfth Man" (authors: Hajo Seppelt, Florian Riesewieck, Edmund Willison) about doping in Brazilian football.

Controversy over entry into the Russian Federation

On 11 May 2018, the ARD announced that for Seppelt from Südwestrundfunk at the coverage of the 2018 FIFA World Cup visa applied by Russia was declared invalid because Seppelt as persona non grata on the Russian visa revocation list stand. The Foreign Office announced that it would endeavor to clarify the background and, if necessary, “seek talks with the Russian side”. A few days later he was granted an entry visa, but if he entered "the territory of the Russian Federation", he would have to expect that the "State Investigative Committee would again take measures to question him". Seppelt then said that he would have to weigh up a possible entry: “I will check with my broadcaster carefully whether I will go to the World Cup at the end of the day. [...] The announced summons before a kind of investigative court doesn’t sound really inviting. ”Because it was too dangerous for him in Russia, Seppelt did not fly to the World Cup; Security authorities had advised the journalist against the planned trip.

Awards

  • 2018 German Sports Journalist of the Year (mediumMagazin jury selection)
  • 2018 Gold World Medal at the New York Film Festival for “Doping, a secret matter: The run for big money - How Africa's sports heroes are sold” in the “Current affairs” category (in the team of authors with Ulrike Unfug, Benjamin Best and Grit Hartmann)
  • 2018: Cross of Merit on Ribbon of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
  • 2017 "Play the Game" Award (together with whistleblowers Vitaliy and Yuliya Stepanov)
  • 2017 “Mention D'Honneur” for the documentary “Doping, a secret matter: The run for big money - How Africa's sports heroes are sold” in the “Sport & Society” category at the International Film Festival of the Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs in Milan
  • 2017 Main Prize at the International Festival Sport Film Liberec - International FICTS Festival for the documentaries “Showdown for Russia” and “Russia's Deception Maneuver” (with co-authors Florian Riesewieck, Olga Sviridenko and Felix Becker)
  • 2017 Tagesthemen Award for reporting on doping in Russia
  • 2017: Gold World Medal at the New York Film Festival for "Secret Doping: Showdown for Russia" in the "Current Affairs" category (in the team of authors with Florian Riesewieck, Felix Becker and Olga Sviridenko)
  • 2016: International Sports Movies TV Award for the documentary “Doping as a Secret Matter: Russia's Deception Maneuver” in the “Sport & Society” category at the International Film Festival of the Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs in Milan
  • 2016: Winner of the Hanns Joachim Friedrichs Prize for TV Journalism (award on October 19, 2016 at the NDR in Hamburg)
  • 2016: Nomination for the Austrian film and television award Golden ROMY for "Doping, a secret matter: In the shadow realm of athletics" in the category Best TV Documentation.
  • 2016: Nomination at PRIX EUROPA 2016 for the documentary “Doping, a secret matter: Showdown for Russia” in the TV Current Affairs category.
  • 2016: Finalist at the New York Film Festival in the “Best Investigative Report” category for “Doping, a secret matter: In the shadowy realm of athletics”.
  • 2016: Bud Greenspan Award from the New York Track and Field Writers for the documentaries "Doping, a secret matter: How Russia makes its winners" and "Doping, a secret matter: In the shadowy realm of athletics".
  • 2016: German television award in the category of best sports program for “Doping, a secret matter: How Russia makes its winners” and “Doping, a secret matter: In the shadowy realm of athletics”.
  • 2015: Winner prizes at the first worldwide journalist competition "Sports Media Pearl Award" of the World Association of Sports Journalists (AIPS) in Abu Dhabi in the video documentary category for the film "Doping as a secret: In the shadowy realm of athletics" and in the best investigative reporting category .
  • 2015: Award "Long Breath" (2nd place) from the Journalists' Association Berlin-Brandenburg for reporting on doping in Russia.
  • 2015: Media award from the German Athletics Association for the documentary “Doping, a secret matter: How Russia makes its winners”.
  • 2015 German Sports Journalist of the Year (mediumMagazin jury selection)
  • 2015: Media award from the German Athletics Association for the ARD doping editorial team and Hajo Seppelt for reporting on doping in Russia.
  • 2015: International Sports Movies TV Award for the documentary "The secret thing about doping: In the shadowy realm of athletics" in the sports values category at the International Film Festival of the Federation of International Cinema Television Sportifs in Milan.
  • 2015: Nomination of the documentary "Doping, a secret matter: How Russia makes its winners" for the International Television Award of the Asian-Pacific Broadcasting Union in the documentary category .
  • 2015 Silver World Medal at the New York Festivals in the “Best Investigative Report” category for the documentary “Doping, a secret matter: How Russia makes its winners”.
  • German television award 2013 in the category best sports program for the WDR program sport inside (as the author together with colleagues Tom Theunissen, Florian Bauer, Matthias Wolf, Marc Schlömer and others, as well as the editorial team with Ulrich Loke and Reiner Lefeber).
  • Nomination of the WDR show sport inside in the category Best Sports Show for the German Television Award 2011 (as author together with Tom Theunissen, Marc Schlömer, Jochen Leufgens, Fred Kowasch and others as well as the editorial team with Ulrich Loke and Reiner Lefeber).
  • Nomination of the WDR show sport inside in the category Best Sports Show for the German Television Award 2009 (as author together with Tom Theunissen, Marc Schlömer, Klaus Fiedler, Fred Kowasch and others as well as the editorial team with Ulrich Loke, Reiner Lefeber and Jochen Leufgens).
  • Main prize at the international festival Sportfilm Liberec 2009 - World Facts Challenge for the ARD report Olympia in the Realm of Means: Doping in China (with co-author Jo Goll).
  • Nomination for the 45th Adolf Grimme Prize (2009), category special prize for "persistent, courageous research on the subject of doping and outstanding reporting services".
  • Gold World Medal at the New York Festival TV & Video Award 2009, Category Best Investigative Report (Longform) for the documentary Olympia in the Realm of Means: Doping in China (with co-author Jo Goll).
  • Nomination for the German Television Award 2007 in the category of best sports program for Mission Sauberer Sport. Doping investigators in action (with co-author Jo Goll)
  • D * 2007 German sports journalist of the year (mediumMagazin jury selection).
  • 2007: International Sports Movies TV Award for the documentary “Mission: Sauberer Sport” in the documentary category at the International Film Festival of the Federation Internationale Cinema Television Sportifs in Milan (with co-author Jo Goll).
  • Silver Chest Award 2007 at the International Documentary Film Festival in Plovdiv for the report Mission: Clean Sport. Doping investigators in action (with co-author Jo Goll).
  • Main prize at the International Sports Film Festival Liberec 2007 - World Facts Challenge for the ARD exclusiv report Mission: Clean Sport. Doping investigators on duty (with co-author Jo Goll),
  • Lighthouse Prize of the Research Network for special journalistic achievements (2006).
  • Big television award in 1992, 1998, 2001 and 2003 of the Association of German Sports Journalists for various documentaries.
  • Great radio award in 1989 from the Association of German Sports Journalists for a background report in the Sender Freies Berlin about the New York Marathon ( entry into Manhattan ).

Publications

Books

TV reports, documentaries

  • with Johannes Kerner: The Millennium Games: Berlin's hurdles after the 1992 Olympics
  • with Karin Helmstaedt: State secret child doping. 1997
  • Doped: How a woman became a man. 2001
  • Doping: A Dangerous Game. 2002
  • From a single sport to a union. 2005
  • with Jo Goll: Mission: Clean Sport. 2007
  • with Jo Goll: Olympia in the realm of means: doping in China. 2008
  • with Robert Kempe: Doping is a secret. 2009
  • with Robert Kempe and Jochen Leufgens: Cycling: The hardest stage 2010
  • with Robert Kempe and Jochen Leufgens: Doping is a secret matter : Ice cold fraud. 2010
  • with Robert Kempe: Sport in North Korea: Insights into an unknown world. 2011
  • with Robert Kempe: No wonder: Kenya is worried about the runner myth. 2012
  • with Robert Kempe: Thomas Bach: The new Lord of the Rings? 2013
  • Doping is a secret: how Russia makes its winners. 2014
  • Doping is a secret. In the shadow realm of athletics . 2015
  • Doping is a secret: Russia's deception. 2016
  • Doping is a secret: showdown for Russia . 2016
  • Doping is a secret: the protection money extortionists . 2016
  • Hypocrisy and lies . 2017
  • Doping is a secret: Brazil's dirty game . 2017
  • Doping is a secret: the run for big money . 2017
  • Doping is a secret: the Olympic plot. The hypocritical fight against sports fraud . 2018
  • Doping is a secret: Russia's football friends 2018
  • Doping is a secret: Brazil's twelfth man in 2018
  • with Wolfgang Bausch and Rolf-Günther Schulze: A secret matter of doping: The greed for gold - The way into the doping trap 2019

Interviews

Web links

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Commons : Hajo Seppelt  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hans-Joachim Seppelt: enemies of sport. 2019.
  2. ^ Hans-Joachim Seppelt, Johannes Kerner: The Millennium Games: Berlin's hurdles after the Olympics. In: Vimeo. Hajo Seppelt, February 29, 2016, accessed June 24, 2020 .
  3. ↑ Hans-Joachim Seppelt: enemies of sport. 2019.
  4. ↑ The first: Russia refuses Hajo Seppelt entry ARD doping expert is on the list of "undesirable persons". In: presseportal.de. ARD / Das Erste, May 11, 2018, accessed on May 11, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Russia refuses to allow ARD doping experts to enter the World Cup. In: faz.net. May 11, 2018. Retrieved May 12, 2018 .
  6. ↑ Russian judiciary wants to summon Seppelt , Spiegel Online from May 15, 2018, accessed on the same day
  7. ↑ Matthias Gebauer: "Doesn't sound really inviting" , Spiegel online from May 15, 2018, accessed on the same day
  8. ↑ FAZ.net, June 13, 2018 Hajo Seppelt does not travel to the World Cup in Russia
  9. ↑ Outstanding engagement against doping: ARD doping expert Seppelt receives Order of Merit of the Federal Republic , RP-Online, May 24, 2018
  10. ↑ German Television Prize 2013.
  11. ^ German Television Award 2011.
  12. ↑ German Television Prize 2009. ( Memento of the original from March 3, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.deutscherfernsehpreis.de
  13. ↑ 45th Adolf Grimme Prize , nominations ( Memento of the original from April 2, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.grimme-institut.de
  14. ↑ Stefan Niggemeier is “Journalist of the Year”. www.dwdl.de, December 12, 2007, accessed on November 28, 2009 .
  15. ↑ Doping, a Secret Matter - Reportage & Documentation - ARD | The first. Retrieved January 12, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Seppelt, Hajo
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Seppelt, Hans-Joachim
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German journalist and author
DATE OF BIRTH 1963
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin