Maike Naomi Schwarz, 2016 Paralympic medalist, is working on her comeback. Last year, Schwarz explained that she suffers from depression.
A thick plastic splint stabilizes Maike Naomi Schwarz’s left foot. During strength training she fell off a 20-kilo disc last year – broken metatarsal. But the 28-year-old wants to swim and catch up with the top class again. And so she stands on the starting block in the indoor swimming pool in the Sportpark Luftschiffhafen Potsdam, stands on one leg, prepares for a dive, and glides through the water.
The 2016 Paralympic silver medalist in the 50m freestyle is aiming to be among the best again at next year’s Paris Games. A broken foot heals comparatively easily. But how does an injured emotional world become healthy again?
“It is considered an international match and is accompanied by the anthems of both countries”
Aurelio Balbis is the organizer of international football matches for the Vatican. Now he is involved in two duels against KSV Johannisthal. In an interview, Balbis tells how the games came about – and what the Berlin amateur club can expect in Rome.more
Nothing worked
Maike Naomi Schwarz hid her actual inner life from most people for a long time. At some point she got to the point that “really nothing worked anymore,” she says. “No getting up, no eating, no sleeping, no showering – nothing.” People were increasingly wondering: Why isn’t Maike Naomi showing up in college anymore, why isn’t she swimming at the Paralympics in Tokyo?
After all, she didn’t want to fool anyone anymore, says Schwarz, wanted to press the “reset button”. She went to a clinic. And made her depression public last year.
Only one percent sight
And now Schwarz, who celebrated the greatest successes under her birth name Schnittger, is working on her comeback: She climbs out of the pool, where her Labrador named Jumper is already waiting for her and cuddles up to the soaking wet swimmer. Schwarz only has around one percent of his eyesight, so her dog accompanies her through everyday life, replacing her eyes, as the athlete says.
Beat the cancer
In September 2021, Elena Semechin won gold at the Paralympics. A little later she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Surgery and chemotherapy followed. It’s over now. Time for big goals. By Dennis Wiesemore
“The wish and the goal is to get back to the level I used to be at next year: world class.” But it’s hard to say what their current level of performance is. She had to skip the World Cups in February and March because of her broken foot. She is optimistic: “I’m slowly but surely getting back to the old level.”
A walk along the Havel, her broken left foot is in a special shoe. Sunbeams fall through the bare treetops, the dog Jumper trotts along next to Schwarz. Talking about depression is difficult, especially as an athlete: “You’ve worked for so many decades, and then at some point you get to the point that you’re not even physically exhausted, but mentally.” It still applies to her: “Every day is a fight.”
“I deserve more”
A successful sporting comeback seems to be linked to her recovery. “I deserve more than this end of my sporting career, I just have to give it to myself,” says the two-time world champion and adds: “This must not be the end of my sporting career. It must not be the end of this incredibly great time be.”
Broadcast: rbb24, February 28, 2023, 6 p.m
