As with so many astronauts, who are ultimately chosen based on social compatibility, the first impression of the British man John McFall is: What a nice guy. You would immediately want to drink a soda with him from the space-compatible sip bag if you floated past him on board a space station. But will 41-year-old McFall be levitating, bag drinking, and all the other nice (spectacular views) and not-so-nice (months without a shower, bed, or privacy) that goes with human...
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...
Interviewed by Sebastian FisherFriedhelm Julius Beucher, 75, President of the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS), left a message of peace on Thursday on the stone arches in the athletes' village of Zhangjiakou, on which athletes and officials sign: "Peace for all, Friedhelm Julius Beucher, NPC Germany". The message was gone on Friday. "It just said: Friedhelm Julius Beucher, NPC. So I took a pen and wrote "Peace for all" and "Germany" again," he told the German Press Agency. During the...
Paralympics, German team: The German team came seventh in the medal table at the Winter Paralympics in Beijing. With four gold medals, eight silver medals and seven bronze medals, the team, which is in the midst of upheaval, was quite surprised. With a total of 19 medals, the athletes from Germany equaled the number of podium places in Pyeongchang four years ago. The most successful German athlete was Anna-Lena Forster. The monoskier won two gold and two silver medals. Linn...
The cross-country skiing coach Albert Kürner had always thought it was a cliché that professional athletes speak into microphones after success: that they have not yet "realized" what they have just achieved. On Tuesday of this week he knew how it feels. The chairman of the St. Peter ski club in the Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald district told him about the gold medal that Leonie Walter, 18, had won at the Paralympics in Beijing in the biathlon for visually impaired athletes over ten...
Grigory Vovchinsky was the first to win a medal for Ukraine at the Paralympics in Beijing, and he was the first to broadcast the significance of that achievement in front of reporters' microphones around the world. "My gold medal is for peace in Ukraine, for the people of Ukraine and for a world without war," he said after winning the standing class biathlon sprint on the first day of competition.It was Vovchinsky, 33, who spoke for Ukraine's athletes on Thursday....
The best way to get an overview is to take a walk in the sky. So into the gondola that takes visitors to the Alpensia resort in Pyeongchang County, South Korea, to the tower of the ski jump. Along the landing slope, the ride goes on a smooth track to the top of the hill. The 93-meter tower rises between a parking lot and a sculpture garden. The observation deck is on the fourth floor. There, through the large windows,...
China The Invisibles: What about people with disabilities in the country of the Paralympics? The Chinese Paralympic team 2021 in Tokyo - it is the most successful in the world © Joel Marklund / Picture Alliance by Lukas Hildebrand 03/09/2022, 11:19 am The Paralympics have been taking place in China since March 4th. The country does a lot for people with disabilities, say some. Not enough, the others. What about people with disabilities in the land of competition? The 2022...
A bit of politics is apparently allowed in these bad times at the Paralympics - and the German delegation is a role model. At the involuntarily most political disabled games in history in Beijing, messages of peace are apparently not automatically banned, contrary to the actually clear rules. "It's difficult to say. That's a theoretical question," said President Andrew Parsons of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) of the German Press Agency when asked whether political messages would be severely punished...
Since Tuesday morning, Renate Walter has been able to describe what happens when the community of St. Peter in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald is happy about a gold medal. It's lucky to be able to reach her at all, she says on the phone, and during the conversation the cell phone rings again in the background. The costume tailor called, the elementary school teacher, former holiday guests on her farm. The senior boss of the food retail business brought a...
