Edina MUELLER (GER)

The reigning KL1 Paralympic champion was one of her country’s flagbearers at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Opening Ceremony. She won bronze in France in the KL1. The multiple world medallist took up Paracanoe in 2014 and studied Human Movement Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, United States. She also has studied rehabilitation pedagogy at the University of Cologne in Germany and has won a Paralympic gold and silver as a wheelchair basketball player.

Hamburg

Physical Therapist

Bachelor of science in human kinetics/kinesiology, Diplom Rehabilitation pedagogy. Human Movement Studies - University of Illinois

I began competing in paracanoe in 2014. 

Her friend encouraged her to try the sport. "Para-canoe is very integrative, a bit more even than wheelchair basketball. You get in the same boat as the other canoeists during training and you just go. As soon as you are in the boat there is no difference."

Scuba diving

Hamburg SV

Arne Bandholz [national]

I have a great team around me in my club, the olympic training centre and especially at work where I also train. 

2014

Czech Republic

European Championship

Racice

Winning Paralympic Gold in London 2012

My mother and father and my grandparents as well as my mentor from the University of Cologne Horst Strohkendl. 

Jens Kroger, Niko Classen 

To compete at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo.

I was named Hamburgs sportswoman of the year in 2012, Cologne Sportswoman of the year in 2010 and I received the silver laurel leaf (highest german sports award) in 2008 and 2012. 

Classification
KL1

Type of Impairment
Spinal Cord Injuries (tagesspiegel.de, 14 Sep 2016)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (tagesspiegel.de, 14 Sep 2016)

Impairment Details
She has had paraplegia since 2000. At age 16 she was playing high school volleyball and felt pain in her back. Later that day she lost feeling in her legs. Doctors found a blood clot, and she spent four months in hospital. (macromedia-fachhochschule.de, 15 Nov 2011; general-anzeiger-bonn.de, 20 Oct 2010)

Awards
She was named the 2012 and 2013 Sportswoman of the Year at the German Sports Gala. (abendblatt.de, 17 Feb 2014; dbs-npc.de, 26 Feb 2013)

She was presented with the Silver Laurel Leaf, the highest national award for excellence in German sports, in 2008 and 2012. (archive.org, 17 Jun 2013; bundespraesident.de, 07 Nov 2012)

She was named the 2010 German International Wheelchair Basketball Athlete of the Year. (macromedia-fachhochschule.de, 15 Nov 2011)

General
OCCUPATION
She works as a sports therapist at BG Trauma Hospital in Hamburg, Germany. (noz.de, 22 Oct 2016)

KL1

Paralympics: Gold - 1, Silver - 1, Bronze - 1; World Championships: Gold - 1; Silver - 3, Bronze - 1.

I have also represented Germany in Wheelchair Basketball 2006- 2014 and won a gold medal at the 2012 London Paralympics and a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics