Rental contract terminated

Will Olympic rowers lose their training center?

The Viennese Olympic athletes Lara Tiefenthaler and Louisa Altenhuber are to lose their training center.

(Bild: Wiener Ruderverband)

The rowing training center on the New Danube is on the brink of collapse. The rental contract has been terminated. For the Viennese Olympic athletes Louisa Altenhuber and Lara Tiefenthaler, this is a heavy blow - just a few days before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris.

On July 4, a short letter from a lawyer fluttered into the offices of the Vienna Rowing Association (WRV). Content: Vienna City Wildwasser GmbH terminates the rental contract. The water sports center in Aspern, including boats and training equipment, must be vacated within a year.

For WRV President Andreas Kral, this is a catastrophe: "There is absolutely no alternative to the training course on the New Danube and it is unique in Austria. People train hard here every day."

Vienna's Olympic hopefuls Louisa Altenhuber and Lara Tiefenthaler prepare here, as do other good rowers, for international competitions such as the Olympic Games, which begin on July 26 in Paris.

This is what the performance center on the New Danube in Aspern looks like.

(Bild: Wiener Rudenverband)

The rowing performance center was built by the City of Vienna in 1991 for the World Rowing Championships and renovated in 2017. Since 2012, a subsidiary of the Austrian Canoeing Association has been the main tenant of the site (Vienna City Wildwasser GmbH). The Vienna Rowing Association is only a sub-tenant. And this subtenancy agreement has now been terminated.

According to information from "Krone", the background to this is likely to be a dispute between the two water sports associations about the operating costs for the site. 

The owner of the property is Donauhochwasserschutz-Konkurrenz (DHK). The DHK consists of the three trustees: the federal government, the state of Lower Austria and the city of Vienna. DHK's contractual partner is Vienna City Wildwasser GmbH (main tenant). So far, so complicated.

The rowing association is appealing to the political representatives in the federal government and the city to preserve the water sports center and secure it legally. Sports councillor Peter Hacker (SPÖ) wants to mediate between the opposing parties. "We are working on a solution," says a Hacker spokesperson. But that may take some time.