Precarious preparations for 2021 Games

Annabel Breuer is in the same boat as so many other athletes in these weeks and months. Day in, day out, only strength training in her own home. She cannot wait until the gymnasiums open again and she can follow her passion: wheelchair basketball. But the 27-year-old has to exercise extreme caution in these extraordinary pandemic times.

Breuer has been a quadriplegic since a car accident when she was in preschool. She belongs to the risk group that absolutely needs to avoid contracting the coronavirus.

"I am already highly paralyzed. If I have a cold or a cough, it is hard for me to cough up mucus, and therefore my lungs are more prone to inflammation," Breuer, part of the gold medal-winning German wheelchair basketball team at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, told DW.

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Eventually, she and many other disabled athletes will continue with their sports routines — even if the virus isn't completely gone and there is still a risk of infection. That raises the question for these athletes, Breuer included: whether optimal preparation for the 2021 Paralympics in Tokyo, for which she and her team have already qualified, is even possible.

Particular athletes need to be protected

"For everyone, presumably no," said Anja Hirschmüller, the leading doctor of sports performance for Germany's National Paralympic Committee (DBS).

"It depends on the sport. Individual disciplines have considerably fewer problems adjusting their training sessions. Team sports have it significantly harder because infections can be passed around more quickly. You have to look very carefully at how you organize training."

The peculiarities of sports for disabled athletes lie above all in the specific impairments of the athletes.

"A peripherally paralyzed athlete or someone with an amputation has fewer problems than, say, a higher paraplegic athlete. We have to protect these athletes more," she said.

Athletes with autoimmune diseases are especially vulnerable. Autoimmune diseases are chronic inflammatory processes. A disturbance in the immune system, which leads to a loss of tolerance to the body's tissue structures, plays a central causal role. About 5-8 percent of the population worldwide are currently affected by approximately 80 to 100 different autoimmune diseases.

One possible way to protect these athletes, the doctor said, is to maximize hygiene measures, from wearing face-coverings, even during training, to more distancing practices. The risk group could "train individually for as long as possible and hold off on full-contact situations for as long as possible," Hirschmüller said.

Continuous dialog among doctors

The more interesting question for Hirschmüller is not in what form the Paralympics can take place, but instead in what form the qualification competitions can be held.

"Many qualifying competitions need to take place to determine who can take part in the Paralympics at all. Communication and medical equipment are traditionally much worse [at those events] than at the Paralympics themselves," Hirschmüller said.

She has been in contact with many doctors on this subject to discuss and coordinate the particular situation.

It is not only in Germany that disabled athletes have to adjust to this unpleasant situation. Brian Bell, an American wheelchair basketball player for German club RSV Lahn-Dill and part of the US wheelchair basketball national team, will stay in Germany for the time being to beat the coronavirus crisis on site.

He should be in the US to polish up for the Paralympic Games. However, the US is statistically one of the worst affected countries in the coronavirus pandemic with over 500,000 infected people.

American wheelchair basketball player full of impetus

But Bell is in contact with his fellow teammates on the other side of the Atlantic.

"It is really a strange situation, but everyone on the team is doing well. Everyone is trying not to get sick. There was a team conference call. Not everyone in the team is especially anxious because [the coronavirus] mainly affects those who are not so physically fit," Bell told DW.

"Luckily, no one in my team is afflicted with an autoimmune disease," he added, which should prove to be an advantage for the US men's team in this particular situation.

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Bell, a 2016 Paralympic gold medalist in Rio, and his teammates hope that they can resume training together again soon.

"Everyone wants to play at the highest level. Every three weeks, we hold a meeting to see if we are all fit," the 30-year-old said.

Is there enough time?

Another question that not only the athletes but also organizers are asking themselves in light of the postponement of the 2021 Paralympics concerns the particularly vulnerable athletes.

"Is it enough?" asks DBS President Friedhelm Julius Beucher. He is aware of the caution that all parties involved must exercize if the Paralympics are to be held next year.
"Has [the virus] peaked in the other countries already? Will we then be virus-free worldwide?" asked Beucher, highlighting a deciding problem for the future. "This is a question that concerns me."

For him, one thing must be non-negotiably above all else: "The health of the athletes."

But for Breuer, the German wheelchair basketball player, the first thing to do now is to look to the future optimistically and restore normality. She therefore has one wish: "If playing or training is allowed again, then you are never really sure. To then put in restrictions would only restrict training. That's why I wish I didn't have to think that way."

She'll probably have to wait a little longer for that state of mind.