Markus Rehm (born 22 August 1988 in

Göppingen Göppingen (; or ) is a town in southern Germany, part of the Stuttgart Region of Baden-Württemberg. It is the capital of the Goeppingen (district), district Göppingen. Göppingen is home to the toy company Märklin, and it is the birthplace ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

) is a German Paralympic athlete, and in the long jump has won four Paralympic, six world and five European titles. He began in sports at age 20 and became a

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

F44 world champion in 2011. His club is TSV Bayer 04 Leverkusen and he is a medical specialist. Rehm is nicknamed "The Blade Jumper", as he is a long jumper with a blade-type leg prosthesis. Rehm's right leg was amputated below the knee after a wakeboarding accident. He uses a carbon-fibre bladed prosthesis, from which he jumps off. He holds the long jump world record in his category at 8.72m set in Rhede, Germany in June 2023, breaking his previous mark of 8.62 m set at the 2021

World Para Athletics European Championships The World Para Athletics European Championships (''European Para Athletics Championships''), known prior to 2018 as the IPC Athletics European Championships is an event organized by World Para Athletics, the international athletics federation esta ...

in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

Personal life

In 2003, at age 14, after a

wakeboarding Wakeboarding is a water sport in which the rider, standing on a wakeboard (a board with foot bindings), is towed behind a motorboat across its wake and especially up off the crest in order to perform aerial maneuvers. A hallmark of wakeboarding ...

accident, Rehm had his right leg amputated below the knee.

Athletics career

DLV Leichtathletik DM 2014 Markus REHM by Olaf Kosinsky -12

2012 London Paralympics

Rehm won a gold medal at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

in London in the long jump F42/44 classification. He made (7.35 m/1,093 points) and set a new world record. On winning he stated "I think it was the perfect jump today."German Embassy to the United Kingdom, http://www.london.diplo.de/Vertretung/london/en/__pr/OlympicsParalympics/09/GoldenWeekend.html ; London.diplo.de ;

2014 German championships

Rehm won the 2014 German Athletics Championships in long jump, with a jump of . However many able-bodied longjumpers protested that he had an unfair advantage due to his blade. His national title was upheld.

2014 European Athletics Championships

Rehm was banned from the

2014 European Athletics Championships The 2014 European Athletics Championships was held in Zürich, Switzerland, between 12 and 17 August 2014. It was the first time that Switzerland had hosted the European Athletics Championships since 1954 European Athletics Championships, 1954. G ...

, as it was ruled that his blade gave him an unfair advantage over able-bodied athletes. His blade made his amputee right leg longer than his natural leg. Rehm jumps off with his right leg.

2015 German championships

Rehm again placed first in the long jump at the 2015 German Athletics Championships. However, his results still do not count towards winning the championship, as the German Federation has ruled that the prosthetics cannot be ruled out as providing an unfair advantage. He finished on top with a jump of .

2015 IPC Athletics World Championships

At the 2015 Doha World Championship, Rehm set a world IPC disability record in the long jump, at . That distance of 8.40m was enough to win the gold medal at the prior 3 Summer Olympics (2012 London, 2008 Beijing, 2004 Athens).

2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics

Rehm attempted to qualify for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, to become the second bladed athlete to compete at the Olympics, following

Oscar Pistorius Oscar Leonard Carl Pistorius ( , ; born 22 November 1986) is a South African double amputee, former professional sprinter, and convicted murderer. He was the 10th athlete to compete at both the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games. Pistorius r ...

at the 2012 Summer Olympics. A rules changeCompetition Rule 144.3(d) bans 'the use of any mechanical aid, unless the athlete can establish on the balance of probabilities that the use of such an aid would not provide him with an overall competitive advantage over an athlete not using such aid.' at the

IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

meant that he needed to qualify his prosthesis with the IAAF to prove that it did not provide an advantage over able-bodied athletes. A study by the University of Cologne determined that the prosthetic was a disadvantage in the run-up portion of the long jump but advantageous during the jump, however there was no overall advantage. However, the IAAF ruled that Germany failed to prove its case, and denied Rehm permission to participate at the Rio Olympics.

2016 Rio de Janeiro Paralympics

Rehm competed in the long jump T43/T44 and 4 × 100 m relay T42–47 and won both events, jumping 8.21 m in the final.Rio 2016
Markus Rehm
. Paralympics Biography He served as the flag bearer for Germany at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Parade of Nations.

2017 World Athletics Championships

Rehm will again attempt to qualify for an IAAF-sanctioned able-bodied competition, the London

2017 World Championships in Athletics The 2017 IAAF World Championships, the sixteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 4 to 13 August at London Stadium in London, United Kingdom. London was officially awarded the championships on 11 November 2011. Bidding p ...

. Following the 2016 Paralympics.

2021 World Para Athletics European Championships (1.06.2021 – 5.06.2021)

Markus Rehm won the long jump competition setting a new world record of 8.62m.

Results

Non-disabled sports events

Footnotes

References

External links

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Markus Rehm
at Team Össur {{DEFAULTSORT:Rehm, Markus 1988 births Living people Paralympic athletes for Germany German male sprinters German male long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Paralympics Paralympic gold medalists for Germany Paralympic bronze medalists for Germany Sportspeople from Leverkusen Athletes from Cologne (region) German amputees Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Paralympics World record holders in para-athletics Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Medalists at the World Para Athletics European Championships Paralympic medalists in athletics (track and field) Sprinters with limb difference Long jumpers with limb difference Paralympic sprinters Paralympic long jumpers 21st-century German sportsmen