The warning from delegation leader Karl Quade during the Paralympics came at just the right time. While the 69-year-old had criticized the German team’s poor medal haul at the halfway point of the games in Paris, he now drew a rather conciliatory conclusion. “I had already noted that we were lacking a little bit. But I think we have caught up well,” said Quade.
Immediately after the whistle blew, Natascha Hiltrop won gold in shooting and a little later that evening Maurice Schmidt followed suit with another gold medal in fencing – more followed. Nevertheless, Germany will end up just outside the targeted top ten in the medal table. The German para-athletes won 49 medals in total, six more than in Tokyo. However, there were three more gold medals to celebrate in Japan. “Our first priority was to stop the trend,” said Quade, recalling that three years ago the final result was the weakest in history. “Of course we want to move further forward, but we are on the right track.”
The results were particularly positive in swimming. However, the track and field athletes around long jump hopeful Leon Schäfer fell short of expectations. The German Disabled Sports Association has to make do without anything to show for it, despite participants in the sports of wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, archery, bocce and sitting volleyball. The athletes won medals in all other sports, but in 2021 they only managed to do so in eight.
“In terms of sporting success, we are very pleased with the swimmers – they are the strongest part of the team,” said Quade. “In athletics, we will certainly have to clarify something later. There was a significant decline compared to Tokyo.”
Top moves closer together
Long jumper Markus Rehm remains a figurehead, defending his title for the fourth time. Sprinter Johannes Floors and shot putter Niko Kappel, who started as favorites, had to settle for silver. This shows that the world’s elite are getting closer and closer together, said Floors. “The level of performance has increased enormously – in many athletics competitions. New world records are not necessarily being set. But the people who have set world records are no longer the only ones running at the front. That’s actually exactly what it’s about.”
Floors sees a lot of positives in the increased competition and therefore also assesses the development of para-sports as entirely positive. DBS President Friedhelm Julius Beucher agrees with the 29-year-old and also took into account the high occupancy of the arenas and the enthusiasm generated. The games could be described as “unique,” said Beucher. “I have experienced such enthusiastic audiences at individual events before. But this one was simply taken to the next level.”
Three medals on the final day
The German team also managed to improve on the final day. Edina Müller, who carried the German flag at the opening ceremony, won bronze at the end of the canoe competition, as did her teammates Anja Adler and Felicia Laberer. There was no sporting happy ending in the marathon.
But overall, the DBS athletes should be satisfied, says Quade, and announced with a view to the 2028 Games in Los Angeles: “We will not rest now just because the trend has been stopped in my view. Instead, this result from Paris will be our incentive for the future to continue on this path and to bring in more professionalism.”
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