MULLER Steven

General
FINDING ATHLETICS
Before taking up athletics in 2013, he played as a wide receiver and return specialist for the Paderborn Dolphins in the third tier of American football in Germany. In 2013 he attracted interest from a number of first-division clubs, but wanted to improve his speed before playing at a higher level and was put in touch with athletics coach Otmar Velte. His initial 100m times, recorded without a warm-up, made an impression on Velte, who agreed to train him as a sprinter. The coach persuaded him to quit his part-time job in a university cafeteria to focus on his studies and athletics, and in 2014 he left American football. "The coach thought, 'If you can do this with cold legs and such poor technique, you can do even better than that'. In 2014 there was a change in my football team and a lot of friends left. But in athletics I had the opportunity to start internationally." (world-today.news.com, 19 Jul 2021)

ALMOST QUITTING
In 2016 and 2017, while in his mid-20s, he says he considered quitting athletics after doubting himself because of his age. "They were two personally very hard years for me and I was about to give up on this sport. I repeatedly heard myself saying, 'You started way too late, you're already way too old for the sport, you should be happy to be in the final at the German championships, and you can't compare yourself with others, you'll never get there'. [Overcoming my doubts] would never have been possible without my coach Otmar Velte, who taught me to become a professional athlete. Even when I doubted myself, he never doubted my skills. With me, he turned a hobby athlete into a professional athlete." (Facebook page, 07 Jul 2021; world-today.news.com, 19 Jul 2021)

FUTURE PLANS
He studies vocational pedagogy in sport and metallurgy, and plans to work as a vocational school teacher, preparing students for jobs in engineering and electronics fields. (world-today.news.com, 19 Jul 2021)