President Friedhelm Julius Beucher of the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) sharply criticized the perception of the Para competitions at the European Championships in Munich.
“I think it’s unacceptable that para-sport plays such a subordinate role,” he said. “Our competitions and successes were the first to fall down.”
Compared to the “fantastic achievements” of the athletes and their contribution to the “excellent overall German performance”, this is “unfair”, said Beucher: “They deserve respect for that, also in the form of public perception.” The para-rowers and canoeists, whose races were held as part of the Multi-EM for the first time, collected a total of six EM medals.
From Beucher’s point of view, opportunities were left behind in Munich “from several perspectives”. “It needs more attractive competition times for para sports and it needs adequate reporting so that this welcome and correct step does not degenerate into an inclusion alibi,” he said.
In addition, Beucher would like other sports such as para-athletics to be included in the program of the European Championships in the future. He is firmly convinced that the DBS athletes “also deserve this attention and this stage with their world-class performances”.