Quade sees Paris as an “incentive”

Maurice Schmidt looked around the Stade de France beaming with joy and literally soaked up the impressions, Elena Semechin waved the German flag with a broad smile on her lips. The fencer and the swimmer were delighted at the closing ceremony in the French capital, and not just because of their gold medals. They had been chosen to represent the German team at the end of the 17th Paralympics in the Paris Arena. 64,000 spectators watched the dazzling spectacle from the stands, which was accompanied by an impressive light and music show. Even the heavy rain in the evening did not spoil the exuberant mood.

The fact that the German delegation was able to enjoy the closing ceremony to such an extent was also due to the huge increase in the number of medals over the course of the games. At one point it had looked like a big disappointment. Apparently, however, the head of mission, Karl Quade, had given the athletes a lesson just in time. Although the 69-year-old had criticized his protégés halfway through the competition, he ultimately drew a very conciliatory conclusion. “I had noted that we were lacking a little something. But I think we have caught up well,” said Quade.

Just outside the top ten

Immediately after the whistle blew, Natascha Hiltrop won gold in shooting and shortly afterwards, the eventual flag bearer Schmidt followed that evening with another gold medal in fencing – more followed. Nevertheless, Germany ended up in eleventh place in the medal table, just outside the targeted top ten. 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 are 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 with nothing to count despite participants in the sports of wheelchair rugby, wheelchair tennis, archery, boccia and sitting volleyball. In all other sports, the athletes won medals, but in 2021 this was only achieved in eighth place.

“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 clear contradiction with 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 start with 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 broken. 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 signed 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 win again on the final day. Edina Müller, who carried the German flag at the opening ceremony, won bronze at the end of the canoe competitions, 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.”

© dpa-infocom, dpa:240908-930-226591/2

This is a message directly from the dpa news channel.