“It came out of nowhere”
Successful mountain bike coach surprised by dismissal
After ten years, Bruno Diethelm is dismissed as national coach of the mountain bike men. The news came as a surprise to him. He turned down the alternative of staying as a cyclocross coach.
1/6
After ten years as national coach of the mountain bike men, Bruno Diethelm is dismissed.
Sven Micossereporter sports
An era is coming to an end for mountain bike men. After ten years, Bruno Diethelm will be replaced as national coach. Nino Schurter, Mathias Flückiger and Co drove with him to European, World Championship and Olympic medals. But the association now wants to take a new path, bring in new impulses – to the surprise of the Bernese Oberlander.
“There were no signs at all for me. I did all the planning for next year and handed it in at the end of October, »Diethelm told Blick. At the beginning of November, those responsible finally approached him and informed him of their decision. Especially with regard to the Olympic Games in Paris, new stimuli are needed.
“Sport is becoming more and more scientific”
“We had the impression that he is no longer that close to some athletes. Some new needs have arisen and sport is becoming more and more scientific. There, an extreme development took place, where it is now about highly specific topics, where you can achieve the last per mille of performance improvement. That’s where we get into the scientific stuff, where we now have a successor in Beat Müller, whose core competence is this,” says Patrick Müller, Head of Performance at Swiss Cycling.
Diethelm would have been happy for things to have gone differently: “I would have wished that you had come earlier if you were dissatisfied. Maybe there would have been another solution. I have nothing against division of labor.”
The cycling association would have liked to continue working with Diethelm and offered him a 30-percent workload as national cycling coach. Furthermore, he could have taken on additional tasks, including setting up bases in Zurich or in Valais.
Offer would have been the easiest way
Diethelm turned down the offer because he could not work with the same intensity in Zurich and Valais as in his previous roles due to the distances involved. “When I take on new tasks, I want to do them 100 percent.” He wants to remain true to himself, says the 63-year-old, although “the offer would be the easiest way to secure the future”.
Diethelm will end the year in his old position, but he does not yet know what will come after that. He is open. The great successes of the men’s faction in the last decade will remain associated with his name.