"An insane figurehead"

Paralympic athlete Katharina Lang puts her signature on the

Golden Book of the Kirchseeon market town

Kirchseeon - slim, tall, sporty and: she has both feet firmly on the ground. Some people rub their eyes on Katharina Lang's special day in the Kirchseeon town hall. Because basically you had adjusted to a 28-year-old in a wheelchair. Katharina Lang is part of the Paralympic team of German wheelchair basketball players, which only narrowly missed the podium in Tokyo and took fourth place. Without a physical handicap in a wheelchair team? Fast: “I have a minimal disability, as I can no longer play basketball at a high level due to a few knee operations on the cruciate ligament. The knee is too weak and the jerky movements in basketball are no longer possible, ”explains the Kirchseeonerin.

In addition, wheelchair basketball (RBB) is the only sport at the Paralympics that people without disabilities can participate in, according to Lang, who admits in the meeting room that she is more nervous than at other public appearances.

After all, it's a first for her: Entry in the market town's Golden Book.

Before that, Mayor Jan Paeplow is wholeheartedly happy about the presence of the successful athlete and speaks of her as an "insane figurehead for Kirchseeon".

Katharina's parents are also present and are visibly proud of their offspring, whom they have supported in their sporting ambitions from childhood.

“I started playing basketball when I was around six and joined RBB in 2015 at the age of 22. I currently play Iguanas in the 2nd division south at RBB Munich, have received offers from the 1st division and have to look around there. The first division is also one of the strongest in the world, ”says the 28-year-old, who completed her bachelor's degree in the USA in May.

She is currently studying again in Germany in order to obtain a master's degree in sports business. The visiting student in the American state of Alabama is also proud of the fact that there she not only achieved remarkable successes in her university degrees - with an average grade of 1.0, but also in the RBB: National Champion 2019 and 2021 with the University Alabama team, which she is the captain cited. Even if it was “only” enough for fourth place in Tokyo in 2021, the top thrower of the German team is so fascinated by the RBB that she can certainly imagine participating in another competition in Paris in 2024. Then she could expand her list of successes, so far the book is: silver at the European Championships in Tenerife 2017, bronze in Hamburg at the 2018 World Cup, also bronze in 2019 at the European Championships in Rotterdam.For now, however, the Munich native is concentrating on the German championship this weekend in Quakenbrück and the European Championship in Madrid in December 2021.

Looking back on the Paralympics in Japan, the 1.81 meter tall girl from Kirchsee raves: “The hospitality of the Japanese was incomparable and we always felt welcome and in good hands. The atmosphere in the village was relaxed and relaxed, and it was a lot of fun to get to know new people from other nations. ”Osw