Natalie Simanowski (born 20 July 1978) is a German retired

Paralympic cyclist Para-cycling (or paracycling/para cycling) is the sport of cycling adapted for cyclists who have various disabilities. It is governed by the (UCI). The sport consists of seven different events which include road and track races. The world's eli ...

who competed at international elite competitions. She is a triple world champion in cycling and a double

Paralympic The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disabilities. There are Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Kore ...

silver medalist. Simanowski was a former

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to . The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distanc ...

Early life

She was born in 1978 in

Lingen Lingen (), officially Lingen (Ems), is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany. In 2024, its population was 59,896 with 2,262 people who had registered the city as their secondary residence. Lingen, specifically "Lingen (Ems)" is located on the river Ems ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. She became a middle-distance athlete competing as a national level marathon runner and she became a paediatric nurse.

Stabbing incident

On 25 June 2003, Simanowski had finished work at a hospital outpatient department in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

and she ran to her car to put her work documents in the boot of her car. As she opened the boot, she was attacked by someone described as "a

psychopath Psychopathy, or psychopathic personality, is a personality Construct (psychology), construct characterized by impaired empathy and remorse, along with boldness, bold, disinhibited, and egocentrism, egocentric traits. These traits are often ma ...

" who stabbed her twice in the

spinal cord The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular structure made up of nervous tissue that extends from the medulla oblongata in the lower brainstem to the lumbar region of the vertebral column (backbone) of vertebrate animals. The center of the spinal c ...

between her eleventh and twelfth

thoracic vertebrae In vertebrates, thoracic vertebrae compose the middle segment of the vertebral column, between the cervical vertebrae and the lumbar vertebrae. In humans, there are twelve thoracic vertebra (anatomy), vertebrae of intermediate size between the ce ...

and narrowly missed her left lung with a butcher's knife. This caused her to have an incomplete spinal cord injury. The perpetrator of the knife attack was caught by the police three days later. He was diagnosed with

schizophrenic Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

psychosis In psychopathology, psychosis is a condition in which a person is unable to distinguish, in their experience of life, between what is and is not real. Examples of psychotic symptoms are delusions, hallucinations, and disorganized or inco ...

as a result of

drug abuse Substance misuse, also known as drug misuse or, in older vernacular, substance abuse, is the use of a drug in amounts or by methods that are harmful to the individual or others. It is a form of substance-related disorder, differing definitions ...

and had voices in his head telling him to kill a woman which was his motive for the attack on Simanowski. When questioned by police, the attacker said that after the incident he went back to an apartment in the city centre and went to sleep. Simanowski had a damaged spine and she lost the feeling in her lower limbs. She spent two years in hospital.

Cycling

After she got in contact with Adelbert Kromer, who was the national coach, she took up cycling and was soon training two hours each day. Simanowski refers to this change in her routine as her "second life". In 2006 she was cycling at the 2006 IPC Cycling World Championships where she contested the time-trial and the road-race. She won the 16.8 km women's time trial Women for the LC3-4 – CP3 classification, beating Barbara Buchan of the US. In 2007 the German Disabled Sports Association recognised her achievement and announced that she and

Mathias Mester Mathias Mester (born 15 September 1986 in Coesfeld) is a Paralympian athlete from Germany competing mainly in category F40 throwing events. In 2007 the German Disabled Sports Association recognised his achievement and he and cyclist Natalie S ...

were the Disabled Athletes of the Year. Simanowski is a triple World champion in cycling. She is a double

silver medallist at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China, from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was ...

in Beijing where she gained the medals in the time trail and the

individual pursuit The individual pursuit is a track cycling event where two cyclists begin the race from a stationary position on opposite sides of the track. It is held at over for men and women. The riders start at the same time and set off to complete the rac ...

. She published her biography, ''Wieder Aufstehen'', that she wrote with assistance in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Simanowski, Natalie 1978 births Living people People from Lingen Paralympic cyclists for Germany German female cyclists German female middle-distance runners German stabbing survivors Cyclists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Cyclists from Lower Saxony 20th-century German women 21st-century German women 21st-century German sportswomen