Simanowski, Mester, and the women’s basketball team crowned “Athletes of the Year”.
Berlin (dpa) – Two-time world bicycle champion Natalie Simanowski and athlete Mathias Mester, who took the gold in the shot-put, discus-throwing, and javelin-throwing events at the world championships, were honored as “Otto Bock Athletes of the Year 2007” on Thursday at the “Night of the Stars – a festive evening for the Paralympics” in Berlin. The team competitions were once again won by the national women's wheelchair basketball team, who were also victorious last year and took the European championship this year.
After pre-selection by the “Deutscher Behindertensportverband (DBS)” (German Sports Association for the Disabled), the winners were selected by internet users. 400 guests were invited to a gala celebration at the Berlin Salzufer for the presentation of awards by Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel. As a sponsor of the Paralympics since 1988 in Seoul, Otto Bock HealthCare (orthopaedics technology) strives to recognize the achievements of disabled athletes as well as the good example they set.
At the turn of the millennium, 29-year-old Natalie Simanowski from Bayer Leverkusen was a promising athlete who had qualified for the 10,000 meter race at the German national championships. But in 2003, she was stabbed in the back on the street with a knife by a mental patient, which caused damage to her spine. She has suffered from partial paraplegia ever since. Nevertheless, she was able to learn how to walk again and is not wholly dependent on a wheelchair.
A year later, she completed her first bicycle race, the 57-kilometre Dolomite Marathon. Since then, she has been competing in class LC 3 (transfemoral amputees with no prosthesis, or equivalent) and has earned numerous victories both on the track and in road races. Unfortunately, she was unable to attend the awards ceremony since she was at a training camp in Columbia at the time.
21-year-old Mathias Mester, who is coached by European javelin throwing champion Steffi Nerius at Bayer Leverkusen, has been small ever since birth. He set world records in all three throwing competitions during the last season, and followed a triple victory at the International German Championships with three more championship titles at the World Championships in Taiwan. In July, he received the prize for outstanding achievements from Wolfgang Schäuble, Federal Minister of the Interior.
© Frank Kastner, Sportredakteur | Deutsche Presse-Agentur GmbH (dpa)
