Paralympian Popow: Germany behind on disability sport

Years after winning gold medals at the  Paralympics and various World Championship titles, Heinrich Popow believes the future for disabled people is brighter than it has ever been, thanks in part to the success and growing popularity of the Paralympics. But there is one particular societal issue the lower leg amputee would like to see change: Adults should view people with disabilities through the same eyes and curiosity as children. 

"The biggest change I would love to see is to break the barriers of having this, we call it in German, Berührungsangst, being afraid to come too close," Popow told DW. "The way that kids interact with people with a disability, and also with stuff they see for the first time. That is what I would like to see adults do.

"So when I, for example, go to Kindergarten with shorts in the summer, I'm the coolest daddy in the world because kids accept me. And then they ask me, 'What do you have?' So I explain. And because my two daughters, always put some new stickers on my legs, every day I have a different leg.

"What I really would love to see is that we accept each other the way we are and learn from kids."

One of Germany's greatest para athletes

Popow maintains that the amputation of his lower leg was tougher on his parents than on his 9-year-old self. He stayed active in sports, and eventually settled on athletics at the sports club, Bayer Leverkusen. In 2002, at age 19, Popow won a bronze medal at the International Paralympics Committee World Athletics Championships in Lille, France. Three bronze medals in the T42 category followed at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens, a silver in Beijing 2008, and a gold medal in the 100-meters in London Paralympics. He won gold in the long jump in the 2016 Games in Rio. "Sports gave me the opportunity to push barriers and limits," said Popow. And it still does. 

In addition to pushing and prodding those who may be newly disabled toward sport these days, he actively promotes and defends people with disabilities in Germany and around the world. He is often seen in clinics and other engagement opportunities for the mobility firm, Ottobock (which employs him), which focuses on, among other things, prosthetics for those who have had amputations, injuries, or neurological diseases. 

Inclusivity breeds success

Popow's travels have led him to believe that countries that do well at the Paralympics usually do well with the inclusivity of the disabled back at home. Germany finished a disappointing 11th in the 2024 Paralympics medals table. Popow believes he has a clue why. 

 "Grassroot sports in Germany are not improving the way they need to improve," he told DW. Federal government research in 2022 suggested more than half of disabled people in Germany avoided sports. Part of the reason could be that 90% of all playing fields and gymnasiums were not barrier-free.  Meanwhile, insurance companies often do not cover medical devices for sports. 

"I feel the government and insurers can save a lot of money if they realize paying for disabled sports is better than the bill from a pharmacy. Sports is the best medicine.

"I  do running clinics, and I see activity all over the world. The Netherlands is doing a great job.  It is the size of the German state of North Rhine Westfalia, and it is more successful than our whole country." The Netherlands was 4th in the 2024 Paralympics medal table. 

Does the International Day of Persons with Disabilities help?

Popow is an avowed booster for the disabled. He is sure that the one day of the year set aside by the UN to promote the rights and well-being of persons with disabilities is positive in ways that go far beyond simple awareness. "I forget the day of my marriage sometimes," he joked. "But this UN day becomes more and more special."

Yet he acknowledges that having lived with his disability since 1992 (he was nine when a rare form of cancer in his left calf led to his lower leg being amputated), the day personally matters less to him than it previously did. Those who are recently disabled see things much differently, and the acknowledgment of that fact is important, he said. 

"I have no restrictions from my disability in my daily life. It is packed with kids, job, and everything, but no further movement is important." 

"But to be honest, and this is something also the (disability) community thinks about, it's more important if we think about disabilities every day, like the awareness we should have every day. A special day is nice, but it is only one step. We need that second and third day," he says. 

And beyond.

Edited by: Matt Pearson