Paralympics blues: When the big goal suddenly falls away

There’s a world of difference between the hustle and bustle of the Paralympics and coming home: “You have a full, well-paced day every day, there are a lot of people around you, and then you come home and it’s quiet at first.” That’s how it is Para-athlete Edina Müller, who carried the German flag at the opening ceremony with triathlete Martin Schulz at the Paris Games that ended last September, then won a bronze medal in para-canoe. Many Olympic and Paralympic athletes experience the weeks following such a major sporting event in a very similar way. Some struggle with the so-called post-Olympics or Paralympics blues – a feeling of emptiness that is often described as a type of depressive episode.

After the Games in Tokyo 2021, where she won her first gold medal as a canoeist, Edina Müller had difficulty getting back into everyday life. Even three years later and richer with a medal, she describes the feeling after the Games as “weird” because the big goal that she had worked towards for so long suddenly falls away: “Then the day comes suddenly, like suddenly It’s Christmas and then it’s over,” she says. To prevent the Paralympics blues from overtaking her, the 41-year-old has thought about methods: “Like in sport, I always try to provide new stimuli.” She tried this through gardening, taking a ukulele course or, as is currently the case, growing mushrooms. “Just to have something to look forward to after the Paralympics,” says Müller: “So that there isn’t such an emptiness.”

Emptiness was a foreign word in Paris. The 2024 Paralympics have never been bigger. At the opening ceremony on Place de la Concorde, International Paralympic Committee (IPC) President Andrew Parsons spoke of a “revolution of inclusion”. According to ARD and ZDF, the games were broadcast for around 60 hours on live public television, also a first. Edina Müller praises the growing media attention during the Paralympics: “I can only build a relationship, develop empathy and think about what I know and what I see. That’s why it’s especially important for disabled sports to be visible.” This visibility also changes the image and stigma of disability. What’s left of it after the games is another topic.

Müller, who has already taken part in five Paralympic Games in her career as a wheelchair basketball player and canoeist, emphasizes that public interest often quickly wanes after her experiences: “It’s a big topic at the Paralympics and everyone is really happy that they get behind it and be able to speak about inclusion. But in the next few years it will no longer be an issue.” As a medal winner, she took part in a few events such as talk shows and honors. And then?

Para-triathlete Anja Renner, who also won a bronze medal in Paris, was also busy with press appointments, lectures and honors after the games: “You can tell that the attention has increased enormously since the Paralympics. I’ve heard from other athletes that it lasts until November or December and then levels off again.” For Renner, it was the first Paralympic Games, which was followed just two weeks later by the European Triathlon Championships (in which she came third). and shortly afterwards the World Championships, where she reached fifth place. There wasn’t much time to think. Renner reports that she was even happy to be able to return to normality after the stress that had subsided after crossing the finish line in Paris.

Without winning a medal, the athletes would have faced a financial shortfall

Normality for para-athletes like Anja Renner and Edina Müller consists of training, family, often a part-time job and – especially now after the Paralympics – looking for sponsors. The short-term increased attention after the games offers a good opportunity for medal winners in particular. Anja Renner already has sponsors, but is now continuing to apply with her successes in the hope that even more patrons will support her. She is a full-time athlete, “but you can’t make a living from it because there is no prize money for the races, the Paralympics being an exception.”

The canoeist Edina Müller, on the other hand, describes the search for sponsors as a stressful time because she relies heavily on this money to finance her training and competition operations. At the beginning of the year, both Müller and Renner received the news that the German Sports Aid Foundation, which supports around 4,000 athletes across Germany, was having problems financing the months of November and December. This was due to an unexpected loss of a grant that was included in the Paralympics squad’s funding plan (PAK).

For her, says Edina Müller, the situation is not dramatic because she still gets bonuses from her bronze medal from Paris. “But if I hadn’t gotten them, I would suddenly be missing 400 euros for November and December.” For Anja Renner, this loss would amount to 800 euros – per month. Thanks to funding from the Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community (BMI), the gap was now able to be closed at short notice.