Inclusion in canoeing: A boathouse for everyone – Sport

In the course of the European Championship, the language then came to the beautiful ramp. With an exemplary, gentle, long ascent, it led up the regatta course to the wooden podium. “But that’s not something that needs to be explicitly emphasized nowadays,” said Edina Müller, for whom such medal podiums have been a central part of her career for years. And then she rolled purposefully upwards.

Edina Müller, 39, celebrated a start-finish victory on the 200-meter paddle course on Sunday, with a superiority that even amazed the national coach. “I drove aggressively according to plan,” explained the Paralympic winner from Hamburg at the medal ceremony, when she was back in her wheelchair. She put a full boat length between herself and her longtime rival, World Champion Maryna Mazhula of Ukraine. Like Edina Müller in the Kl1 starting class, Lillemor Köper, 38, also became European Champion in the final in the Vl1 class: last week, the paracanoeists enriched the usual plentiful medal haul of the German Canoe Association (DKV) with two out of a total of eight gold plaques.

At the eleven-day European Championships, Munich’s multicultural spectacle, appearances by parasportsmen were a rarity. Not so on the regatta course in Oberschleißheim, first with the rowers, then with the canoeists, because there they are part of the usual picture. And that has been the case for years, as Thomas Konietzko, President of the International Canoe Federation ICF, emphasizes: “We make no distinctions between the boat classes of able-bodied and disabled athletes. That’s part of our statutes and has long been normal.” Competition paddling is barrier-free.

The canoeists also made it clear to the organizers of the European Championships that, in principle, para- and racing athletes start on an equal footing in their sport, as part of the prescribed program, as confirmed by the members. “Once German politicians supported us, the private organizers naturally welcomed it,” says Konietzko.

The boat builder works on the four of the Olympians – and on the parakayaks

Demonstration races were held for the first time at the World Championships in Canada in 2009. A year later, paracanoeing was an official part of the World Championship program, and 21 countries registered athletes. Today there are 60 nations that compete in parasport in two competitive boats: in a kayak and in a va’a, an outrigger or outrigger canoe. Since 2016, these have also been the Paralympic boats.

But the transition to inclusion was not as easy as it sounds ten years ago. Konietzko, who has been President of the DKV since 2010, first had to break the resistance of the stubborn faction with his progressive colleagues in the international association bodies. In the beginning, for example, the paracanoeists only paddled along the edge of the regatta courses. “The conservative forces didn’t want to allow any changes to the course of the race,” he says, “they thought the newcomers should take a back seat.” In the meantime, it has been proven that sport has won in all respects thanks to the integrated programme.

Could only start in Munich thanks to a private sponsor: Lillemor Köper (left) and Esther Bode.

(Photo: Adam Pretty/Getty)

In the boathouse in Oberschleißheim, where para- and racing athletes of the DKV gathered, it was shown how much canoeing has grown together. “The nice thing is that we can work completely integratively in the national team,” says para national coach Andre Brendel. Even the boat builder is shared, he works on the Germany four of the Olympic champions as well as on the ones of Edina Müller, Lillemor Köper, Esther Bode, Anja Adler, Felicia Laberer, Katharina Bauernschmidt and Anas Al-Khalifa, the members of the team gathered in Munich Parateam.

Everywhere, says Brendel, there are synergies, in logistics as well as in cooperation. Everyone did the course at the Duisburg base before the World Championships in Canada together. And there are even mixed races at the German championships: two great canoeists, Paralympic champion Edina Müller and Olympic champion Ronald Rauhe, have both paddled together.

But as closely interlinked as the competition program is, the discrepancies are still obvious. The para races of all twelve classes in va’a and kayak for men and women have so far been limited to the short sprint distance of 200 meters. The Olympic athletes, i.e. those without limitations in trunk mobility, also run 500 and 1000 meters. “A few longer races would be nice,” says Edina Müller.

European champion with a part-time position

And there are also differences in terms of financial support. The Parakanute are very generously supported by the Federal Ministry of the Interior, says national coach Brendel. But the European champion in Vl1, Lillemor Köper, and the runner-up at the European Championships, Esther Bode, can only be supported with non-governmental funds – because their starting class, the one with the greatest limitations, is not yet anchored in the Paralympics program. “We have athletes with a wide variety of disabilities, and we wish that we wouldn’t have to differentiate internally just because someone is lucky enough to be in a Paralympic starting class,” says Brendel. “It hurts us all.” Lillemor Köper and Esther Bode could only come to Munich because they found a private sponsor.

And then there was a small contrast: Edina Müller, qualified sports therapist, works part-time. The European champion is expected back on duty in Hamburg this week.

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