Paralympics 2024 in Paris: “Would be a drama” – Quade takes stock of the half-time period and criticises politics

Mixed – that's the sporting record of the German team at the halfway point of the Paralympics. And what does the future look like? Bad. Around a quarter of the coaches in the German Disabled Sports Association (DBS) are at risk of unemployment.

“We are not entirely satisfied”At the halfway point of the Paralympics, the German Chef de Mission Karl Quade drew a mixed sporting balance on Tuesday (03.09.2024). “We are not entirely satisfied”can also be read as Quade's message to politicians. In the ongoing discussion about the future financing of German sport, the 69-year-old addressed the political decision-makers in Berlin with clear words.

“Light and Shadow”

“We have seen light, we have seen shadows. We are not entirely satisfied with the sporting performance so far.”Quade ranked the 16 German medals up to Tuesday afternoon on the Sportschau microphone. With this haul at halftime of the Games, the Germans are still a long way from the 43 medals that the team of the German Disabled Sports Association (BDS) collected in Tokyo three years ago. That was a historic low point at the time, but the 43 medals were also seen as a guideline for Paris.

Hope for cycling, canoeing and table tennis

“We will continue to keep our eye on the goal”promised Quade, who is leading the German Paralympics team in Paris for the 15th time as Chef de Mission. Until Tuesday afternoon, the Germans had only won gold twice. In the remaining five and a half days, Quade is focusing on three sports in particular: “Cycling is still coming, canoeing is still coming, table tennis is still in business”In addition, there could still be one or two medals in the team sports, he said, referring, among other things, to the sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball teams, who surprisingly made it into the semifinals on Tuesday.

Numerous coaches face dismissal

In order to stop the downward trend in sport, Quade is calling on politicians to take action. Specifically, he criticizes cuts in the 2025 federal budget, which also affect Paralympic sport. “We have already had to send letters to many trainers and inform them that they will not be employed in 2025 because the current figures do not allow this.”said Quade.

According to Sportschau information, trainers from the medal-winning sports of swimming and table tennis have already reported themselves unemployed at the end of the year. Of the approximately 50 trainers employed by the DBS, Quade said “more than ten trainers” received a corresponding letter. Around a fifth to a quarter of all trainers are also facing unemployment.

“When they’re gone, they’re gone”

“It would be a tragedy if we had to part ways with coaches in the youth teams who are able to keep up with them. Once they're gone, they're gone. They won't come back so easily.”explains Quade, who was a Paralympic champion himself as a sitting volleyball player in 1988. Abroad, the coach had a better perspective: “Some people say, I'll go to Saudi Arabia for three years and then my house will be paid off. In Germany he would have to work for 30 years to achieve that.”

600,000 to 700,000 euros missing

The sums that Quade is talking about to secure the coaching jobs seem to be comparatively small: 600,000 to 700,000 euros would be missing, according to the DBS official. Quade calculates the figures for the sport: “The federal budget is 315 million euros. We have 3.6 million euros for personnel. But that is not enough. We need at least 4.2 or 4.3 million euros, that is the figure for 2024. We would need at least that much for 2025. Otherwise it will be tight for trainers.”

If the current federal budget for 2025 remains in place, the requirements for Los Angeles would have to be reduced again in 2028 – something that Quade is “not entirely happy with” today, but would then possibly already be a success.