Gold medalist and official
“Mr. Paralympics” Karl Quade is dead
Updated 12/28/2025 – 2:09 p.mReading time: 1 min.
Karl Quade won gold at the Paralympics as an active athlete, and later he shaped German disabled sports as an official like no other. Now he has died after a serious illness.
German sports for the disabled have lost an influential personality: Karl Quade has died at the age of 71. As the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) announced, citing Quade’s family, the former paraathlete and official died on Boxing Day after a serious illness.
“With him we are losing a passionate source of inspiration and a convinced supporter of the Paralympic idea. With great gratitude we will preserve his legacy and continue on the path he shaped,” said DBS President Hans-Jörg Michels about Quade, who was also referred to as “Mr. Paralympics”. He was “a proven expert with an extraordinary range of knowledge, but always authentic, warm and personable,” Michels continued.
Quade first became known as an active athlete. In 1984 he won the silver medal with the German national team in stand volleyball at the Paralympics in New York. Gold followed in Seoul four years later.
He remained loyal to competitive sports even after his active career ended. In 1996 he took on the role of Chef de Mission for the German team for the first time at the Games in Atlanta. He was also Vice President of the DBS for over three decades.
DBS honorary president Friedhelm Julius Beucher praised Quade as a defining face of the Paralympic movement in Germany: “His death shocks me deeply – we are losing an extraordinary person with unique knowledge, whose work remains both an obligation and an incentive for us.”