GEIERSPICHLER Thomas

Classification
T52 (IPC, 08 Mar 2021)

Type of Impairment
Spinal Cord Injuries (Athlete, 08 Feb 2012)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (Athlete, 20 Aug 2018)

Impairment Details
He has quadriplegia as the result of a car accident in April 1994. (Athlete, 20 Aug 2018; meinbezirk.at, 10 Apr 2013)

General
AFTERMATH AND RECOVERY
He turned to drugs and alcohol in the immediate aftermath of his car accident in 1994. "I skipped some therapies towards the end of my stay at hospital, because my life simply didn't interest me anymore. How can a psychologist, who later goes home on two legs, tell me how to deal with paraplegia? I started to drink more and more in the evening. Back in Anif [Austria], I had no perspective. So I continued to smoke weed [cannabis]. That put me in rose-tinted glasses so that I didn't have to admit the reality, to make it bearable." He was able to recover from drug and alcohol abuse through the help of a friend. "A friend once asked me, 'How are you?' He looked into my eyes deeply and said, 'I really care how you are'. In this silence it was the first time that I had looked inside myself, and had to answer him, 'Yes, I'm feeling bad. I don't want to be in a wheelchair, I hate it. I want to be able to play football again, dance around in a disco, jump around. I don't want all of this anymore'. I had no hope in my life. That experience was a 180-degree turn. I was overwhelmed." (geierspichler.com, 30 Dec 2020; miteinander.at, 05 Sep 2019)

OTHER ACTIVITIES
He runs Reschbergerhof, a holiday apartment rental business in Anif, Austria. He also plans to be more involved in motivational speaking after retiring from sport. "I don't have a real idea of how things will go after the sport. The end of the race is not yet in sight [speaking in 2020]. I will definitely give more talks after my career. I want to motivate people to believe in themselves and that they can always go their own way without being constantly influenced." (Instagram profile, 14 Apr 2021; geierspichler.com, 30 Dec 2020; Geierspichler's Reschbergerhof Instagram profile, 12 Dec 2020; sn.at, 12 Oct 2020)

PREVIOUS OCCUPATION
Prior to his car accident in 1994, he worked at his family farm, which he had done since childhood. "My life was predetermined. It was clear that I should become a farmer. It had been drummed into my life as a child. Every day, even on Sundays, milking the cows, getting up at 05:00. That day [waking up at the hospital] was Sunday, I thought, still six hours of work at the farm. Then I noticed, 'No, we are not at home'. My feet started to shake. Then it tingled from my toes over my calves and thighs and up to my neck. At that moment, I did not know what really happened to me. My subconscious already knew more." (miteinander.at, 05 Sep 2019)

BOOK
A biography about him called 'Mit Ruckgrat zuruck ins Leben' [Back to Life with Backbone] was published in 2011. "The book at the time was necessary to complete some parts of my life before and after my accident in 1994. Writing was very time-consuming. I would know when it's time for another book [speaking in 2020]. I write columns every now and then, but a book is a lot more work." (sn.at, 12 Oct 2020; salzburg24.at, 20 Sep 2011)

He became the first Austrian Para athlete to win a gold medal in the 1500m [any classification] at the world championships following his victory in the T52 event at the 2002 edition in Lille, France. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Apr 2020)