People: Franzi van Almsick: A lot of things have been too long ago for Google

Sports legend Franziska van Almsick sometimes searches in vain for old reports about herself on the Internet. “It was a really damn long time ago,” said the 1994 swimming world champion and winner of countless medals at this year’s ARD program presentation in Hamburg.

The broadcasting family is planning a television portrait of the 46-year-old Berliner. The three-part documentary series “Being Franziska van Almsick” is scheduled to air in autumn 2025. There will also be a “Sportschau” podcast.

“I have problems sometimes. (…) When I try to google something, I can’t find it at all. The stuff is somehow so old that it’s hidden. (…) And I’m happy for myself, that the old stuff comes up,” she said about the series project.

“I can’t remember a lot of things anymore.”

Van Almsick said she had already looked at one or two sequences of the documentary: “I’m totally surprised myself. There are a lot of things that I can’t even remember anymore. Of course I remember them when I see them . I can also say something about it, which is of course great.” There are moments in every athlete’s career that have to be explained later. But she doesn’t have any big things to uncover. According to ARD, it is the first documentary about van Almsick in which the protagonist herself has her say.

Commitment to the performance principle

But she also has messages: “That it is important that children learn to swim. And that it is important that we bring the performance principle back into society to some extent.” She made that a big priority. “I think that we have defined performance a bit wrong in recent years. And I think sport is a great vehicle to show that you have to work hard and you really have to move your butt if you want to wants to be successful and that’s something we’ve perhaps lost a little bit as a society in recent years: that hard work is always worth it in the end.” She has a lot to tell.