Team Germany - Profile

Highlights:

Germany has enjoyed most its Paralympic success in athletics and swimming, with the two sports accounting for almost half of the NPC's total medals won at the Paralympic Games.

Before reunification, the Federal Republic of Germany won more than 300 Paralympic gold medals from 1968 to 1988, while the German Democratic Republic made just one appearance at the 1984 Games.

Marianne Buggenhagen is among Germany's most successful Paralympians. The athletics competitor won four of her gold medals at the 1992 Games, one each in shot put, pentathlon, javelin and discus, before going on to win five more titles in a Paralympic career that spanned seven Games between 1992 and 2016.

Buggenhagen won her 14th medal, a F55 discus silver, at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro at age 63 years and 114 days, placing her among the oldest Paralympic medallists ever.

Between 1988 and 2004, Claudia Hengst established herself as one of the most successful swimmers in Paralympic history. Having represented the Federal Republic of Germany in her first Games appearance in 1988, she went on to represent the unified Germany for the rest of her five-Games Paralympic career. A versatile swimmer who won medals across all strokes and the medley, she won seven gold medals for Germany, five in 1992 and two in 1996, adding those to the six she won at the 1988 Games.

Yvonne Hopf is among Germany's most notable Paralympians, her 11 total medals - six gold, three silver and two bronze - put her in rarefied air. She won her medals across just the 1992 and 1996 Games, with five of her gold medals coming at the latter.

A number of German athletes have won five gold medals, with Michael Teuber the latest to join the list when he won the cycling C1 time trial at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Germany collected 18 gold medals at the most recent Games, equalling its haul from the London event four years earlier. Its overall medal count in 2016 was just 57, however, the fewest it has totalled at any Games since German reunification.

Additional Information: Website
http://www.dbs-npc.de/

Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/DeutscherBehindertensportverband

Anthem Title: Deutschlandlied [Song of Germany]

Anthem Composer: Words by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, music by Joseph Haydn.

Anthem Inducted: 1991

Official NPC Name: National Paralympic Committee Germany

IPC Recognition Date: 1989

Delegation President: Friedhelm Julius Beucher

First OG/PG Appearance: 1960

Number OG/PG Appearances: 10 [Tokyo 2020 included]

Summary: