January 2002 - Nr. 1
Team Spirit
Disabled German Athletes Contribute to American Paralympic Reconstruction Effort
TWIG - Disabled German athletes are making their solidarity with the American Paralympics organization felt in the form of a financial contribution. Minister of the Interior Otto Schily presented the first check from the "Athletes Show Solidarity" campaign to American Ambassador Daniel Coats on Tuesday (December 18) in Berlin. The money, some DM30,000 (US$13,600) was collected by the Support Group for Disabled Sports and is to benefit the Paralympics organization, whose lower Manhattan headquarters were destroyed in the World Trade Center attacks of September 11. The donations will go toward the reconstruction of these offices. Schily said, "The ‘Athletes Show Solidarity’ campaign is an impressive symbol of the link between the German sport world and its American friends. We hope that this first contribution will help remedy some of the horrendous damage caused by the abominable attacks."
The campaign was launched in early October with a "Paralympics Night" in Duesseldorf and will continue until the disabled games begin in Salt Lake City on March 7, 2002. The Paralympics go back to 1948, when Sir Ludwig Guttmann, a German émigré, organized a sports competition in England involving World War II veterans with spinal cord injuries. Four years later, competitors from Holland joined the games, and the international movement known as the Paralympics was born. Olympic-style games for athletes with disabilities were organized for the first time in Rome in 1960. In the same year, the first Paralympic Winter Games were held in Sweden. Today, the Paralympics are elite sport events emphasizing the participants’ athletic achievements.
